"May the battles begin."

That's how field hockey coach Sue Butz-Stavin categorized the week ahead for her team. After a convincing 6-0 win over Nazareth Monday night, Emmaus (4-0, 4-0) now travels to Northampton (5-0, 4-0 EPC) today and then to Parkland (4-2, 3-1 EPC) Friday for key divisional games against tough opponents. While the Lady Hornets were downing Nazareth Monday, Northampton picked up a 1-0 win over Parkland in another divisional battle, setting up the meeting of undefeated teams.

"We're going to be going away and they're just going to be battles and we have to persevere," said Butz-Stavin. "Northampton got a big win over Parkland and I think that was huge, being on Parkland's home field."

Northampton and Parkland aren't only good teams, but they both have home fields that are grass and not turf like the Emmaus squad is used to playing on. The combination of grass and some talented players presents a big challenge, especially against an up-and-coming Northampton team that has some momentum.

"You have to battle with Megan Wiest, who controls the midfield," said Butz-Stavin. "And they've got the big hammer Makenna Marhefka, she's back from last year and they've got decent goalkeeping, too. We'll just see how we all match up and how we play."

As for Nazareth, the Blue Eagles almost did something that no other team has done this season; hold Emmaus scoreless through an entire half. With just 40 seconds remaining in the first-half, Erika Wilson took a pass from Meredith Sholder and pushed it past goalie Maddie Plumhoff to put Emmaus up 1-0.

After some halftime adjustments, Emmaus scored five times in the second half, with Sholder assisting on three more goals and sophomore Maddy Dorn scoring three times.

Sholder, who was a scoring machine scoring 48 goals for Emmaus last season as a freshman, has accepted the fact that she will have less open looks this year because of double-teams, so she's adapting and helping the team in other ways. When she does have an opening, she doesn't miss and has already scored 11 goals.

"She's a very nice player," said Butz-Stavin. "We're always working to become better. Along with that comes that everyone seems to want to double team or they're going to come with the hard body and put it on her and just try to stop her.

"She's got great vision and that's one of the best things about the beauty of her play. Not only does she have the stick skills, but she's got the vision that goes with it. A lot of times, the pace of the ball, putting it on their stick, is very good also."

Dorn has been hot in the early going, scoring eight goals for Emmaus. Dorn's production is impressive and makes her part of a strong group of underclassmen who are not only helping now, but bode well for the future over the next couple of seasons.

"I know that when we play the harder teams, they know who Meredith is and that will allow other players to be open, so we practice that."

Being second on the team in goals, Dorn could soon be getting some tougher coverage as well. She's not sure whether teams are starting to take notice of her, but she has confidence that her team will come through their tough stretch of games in good shape.

"I know Parkland was here watching us and I play with a lot of them in club, so they know about me, but I don't know if they are talking about me," said Dorn with a humble smile.

"They're great competition. Every year, they say they're going to beat us and this is their year and I don't think this is their year at all. I think we're going to do great against them."