The Emmaus girls picked up back-to-back shutouts this past week with a 3-0 win over Bethlehem Catholic and a 4-0 win over Freedom to move to 8-4-1 overall and 8-2-0 in the Lehigh Valley Conference.

While the wins helped to prove that Emmaus is one of the better teams in the LVC, they also helped prove that they can be inconsistent at times, thanks to a relatively weak effort in the win over Freedom.

"We think on any given day we can be the best team in the conference," said coach Rob Rooney. "We've also proven that we can be the worst team, too. We didn't play very well [against Freedom]. These Saturday games are difficult. It takes us out of a rhythm that we're used to where the kids go to school and they have a rhythm that they get into.

"The weekends are weird, they're out late on Friday nights and it's just weird."

As the regular season enters its final week, the schedule becomes very important. Emmaus has games at Allen and Dieruff, which are a combined 1-21 overall, before a rematch with Central Catholic next Wednesday at Memorial Field.

Emmaus lost to Central Catholic 2-1 early in September and are looking forward to the rematch. With the Vikettes at 9-0-1 in the LVC, the two teams could be battling for a playoff spot in that game, although Rooney is hoping things change between now and then.

"We're hoping that a couple other things go our way and we take care of what we have to do," he said.

"While it's always important and we want to win every time we step onto the field, we're hopeful there won't be any playoff implications for us that particular night, just so we're not in a must-win game in the last conference game of the year."

Defense has been a big part of the season for Emmaus and no player has been more important than defender Shannon McGinniss.

"Shannon McGinnis is without a question the best defender in the Lehigh Valley Conference, she's the best defender in District 11 and she's one of the best defenders in the state of Pennsylvania. She's critical to everything that we do," said Rooney.

"She keeps us strong and organized defensively and Mandy McCarthy keeps us organized and gives our team our personality in the center and middle-field. Teams in soccer are often defined by their personalities and players like McCarthy and McGinnis help to give us that personality."

The soft-spoken McGinnis added two assists in the shutout win over Freedom and has played well in the back-to-back shutout games for the Lady Hornets. She's also very quick to deflect credit to the rest of the team.

"We just work hard as a team and everybody works their hardest and does what they can to help us win," said McGinnis.

"The offense is scoring goals and we want to make sure we show up as well."

Rooney believes that simply getting some consistency will be the key to success for his team down the stretch and into the postseason.

"We've had a very good year and we've struggled with some of the nonconference games that we've played and rightfully so," he said. "Wilson's the number four team in the state. Neshaminy's the number two team in the state and Spring-Ford is still left on the schedule and they're unbeaten.

"In the conference, we've played well. We've got wins over Nazareth, Parkland and Easton and a close, competitive game against Central. We're mostly happy, but we've got to work on being more consistent."

Rooney believes that the schedule could give his team a little bit of a breather and a chance to get some players healthy by resting them against Allen and Dieruff.

"Playing Allen and Dieruff the two games before Central isn't ideal, but at the same time, it will let us rest some of our players," he said. "Emily Pennel's been playing hurt all year long and so after Northampton, she'll get about a week off and that's all that can fix her is just a little bit of rest."

The players believe that they'll be ready for the key rematch with the Vikettes.

"We're looking forward to playing Central again to see how our hard work has paid off," said McGinnis.