While it may have lost a long winning streak that stretched over nine seasons, the year ended in a very familiar way for the Emmaus field hockey team as the top seed in the LVC playoffs a likely high seed in the district playoffs.

The Hornets finished the year with ten straight wins, the last five of them shutouts, to go 17-1. In fact, 12 of the wins this season were by shutout.

The regular season ended with a strong showing over North Penn in a 4-0 win. Krissy Mikelson scored two goals, while Joanna Hawkins and Teresa Carotenuto each scored one goal in the game.

Hawkins, a junior, also added two assists in the game and thinks her team is in a perfect situation going into the postseason.

"We just have to focus on playing as a team and really work together to get things done on the field," said Hawkins. "We can't just play individually, we have to communicate with each other and work together as a team to get the job done."

Now that the regular season is over, the fun really begins and for Emmaus. Part of that fun could come in the form of a rematch with Liberty, which broke the Lady Hornets 139-game LVC winning streak earlier this season, beating Emmaus 1-0 in overtime. For that to happen, Liberty would have to beat a very tough Northampton team and Emmaus would have to beat Whitehall in the semifinals, held Tuesday night.

Coach Sue Butz-Stavin knows that at this time of year, there's no looking ahead and it's just focusing on one game at a time and not worrying about who the opponent is.

"I'm excited about postseason play," she said. "We know that we might wind up against Liberty again, but that's something to think about later. If you don't take it one step at a time, you might be history."

Last season, Emmaus made it to the state semis before falling to Hempfield 4-3. This team comes in with aspirations of another state title and they feel they're good enough to go that far. Hawkins thinks the loss to Liberty has brought the team even closer and made them more determined.

"We really do want to show Liberty what we can do, so we want to play them again, but we also want to go past that," Hawkins said. "Beating Liberty would be nice, but that's not the main goal, we want to do well in districts and then keep winning in states."