Perhaps one of the keys to Sue Butz-Stavin as a field hockey coach is that she doesn't look at just winning the game. She stresses winning little games within the game that help to lead her teams to success.

That success has now stretched to 25 straight District 11 titles with a 5-1 win over Pleasant Valley, which has been the victims in 10 of those 25 championship games.

"There are wars to win within a game," said Butz-Stavin. "The first five minutes, after you score a goal, after they score a goal; we wanted to win that first war in the first five minutes."

Emmaus definitely won that war, scoring two goals in the game's first two minutes, both on penalty corners.

The first goal had Anna Kennedy sending a picture perfect pass to Meredith Sholder in front of the net, giving the freshman a tap in on her team's first shot.

Emmaus' second shot of the game came on its next penalty corner when Sholder became the one assisting with a pass to Joanna Hawkins, who put it into the net and helped to deflate the Bears as the Hornets went up 2-0 with 28 minutes left to play in the first half.

Just about eight minutes later, Emmaus was awarded a penalty stroke and senior Krissy Mikelson fired the ball to the left of the goalkeeper to give Emmaus a 3-0 advantage that would hold up through the rest of the first half.

"It felt great to get that goal," said Mikelson. "We came out hard and tried to get a quick lead and that worked for us."

Mikelson would add her second goal of the game in the second half and Anna Kennedy would follow with her lone goal of the day to give Emmaus a 5-0 advantage. In the final minute of play, Pleasant Valley's Alex DiMarco fired a shot from the right side of the circle and Melissa Russo was there to deflect the ball over the right shoulder of Mekheila MacDonald for the Bears lone goal of the game.

With 25 straight district gold medals and a total of 28 district titles overall, you might think that it's become rather routine for coach Sue Butz-Stavin. Instead, the veteran coach admits that district finals are never a relaxing experience.

"I still feel the same way," she said. "It was a long morning waiting for this game to be played and I was very nervous. Of course, I never share that with the kids. It helps that the kids all believe in themselves."

Next up is the PIAA Tournament and Emmaus faces Downingtown West in the first round. Butz-Stavin again is taking nothing for granted though and pointed out that even though she had very good teams that won district titles in 1999, 2001 and 2002, those teams were all eliminated in the first round.

"When you go back and look at these teams, you realize that anything can happen, so you never want to come in too overconfident," said Butz-Stavin.