It's not often that Sue Butz-Stavin has to give her team a pep talk, but they needed one Saturday when Warwick took the Lady Hornets into overtime in their quarterfinal game of the PIAA Class AAA field hockey playoffs.

With the score tied 1-1, Butz-Stavin noticed some long faces on her bench and pointed out to her team that they hadn't lost yet and that they had every reason to expect to win.

The talk worked. Just under five minutes into the seven-on-seven overtime, Krissy Mikelson scored to give Emmaus (25-0) a 2-1 win and a spot in Tuesday's PIAA semifinals against West Chester Henderson.

"They were sitting on the bench and their faces were down and I was like 'hey, we still have game time left,'" Butz-Stavin said. "At that point, it's about refilling your tanks and getting out there and we've practiced seven-a-side a lot since we went into the playoffs.

"They were prepared, but the emotional part, you never know what's going to show up on game day."

Emmaus led 1-0 at the half after Meredith Sholder took a pass from Alex Nader and fired it past goalkeeper Kailynne Reinoehl for the only score of the half. The goal was the 47th of the season for Sholder, who is only a freshman.

At halftime, it was Warwick coach Bob Derr who fired up his team and they came out strong in the second half, but missed on a couple opportunities before the Warriors scored on a penalty corner. Jamie Martin took a pass in the middle of the field and fired back to fellow junior Marleise Emrhein, who got a shot past goalie Tori Laczo to knot the game at 1-1 with just over ten minutes left to play.

Warwick pressured quickly in the overtime period, but Emmaus gained control and took the play toward the Warwick goal.

Joanna Hawkins, who was recently commended by the National Merit Scholarship Program, was able to find Mikelson on the right side of the net, but the senior didn't seem to have much of a shot. Mikelson made a quick move and fired the ball high and over the right shoulder of Reinoehl to start the celebration.

"I didn't have much of an angle, but I just tried to take the shot high and get it past her and it went in," said Mikelson. "I think we were stronger the first half and we thought that we had it, so that wasn't a good thing. They came back really strong. That was a great team and a great competition, but I think if you have the will to win, you can do anything."

Emmaus opened the PIAA Tournament with a win over Downingtown West last week, picking up a 2-0 win with Anna Kennedy scoring both goals. Kennedy isn't known as much for her goal scoring as she is for her defense, but the senior has been on a roll lately and picked up her first two-goal game of the season against Downingtown, looking to help lead her team to a state championship.

"I'm going a little bit harder to the ball and it's playoff season and I really want to go far this season, so it's just the will to win," said Kennedy. "The last two years, we've only made it to state semifinals. This year, our nine seniors and the rest of us really want to make it past that point."

The Lady Hornets are back in the semifinals for the fourth straight season. In 2010, they downed Hempfield 3-0 on their way to a state championship. Hempfield came back for some revenge in 2011, knocking off Emmaus 4-3. Last season, Lower Dauphin defeated Emmaus in the semifinals, 2-1 in double overtime.

West Chester Henderson, who provides the opposition for Emmaus in the semis, is led by Katie O'Donnell, who is considered one of the top players in the country and has committed to the University of North Carolina.

"At this time of the year, you always have your work cut out for you," said Butz-Stavin. "We should have been able to get better pressure [against Warwick] and we'll have to take advantage of that when we get opportunities against Henderson."