There are currently nine field hockey teams with winning records in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and five of them are in the Skyline Division, with Emmaus leading the group at 9-0-1. The only other unbeaten team is Stroudsburg, which leads the Mountain Division with a 9-0 record in conference play.

Emmaus added a big 4-0 conference win against Whitehall (7-2-1) last week on the strength of three goals from sophomore Meredith Sholder. The win gave Emmaus a little margin for error in the division, which could come in handy with just five games remaining, four of which are conference games against division rivals.

"I thought that it was a really good win," said Sholder of the Whitehall game. "We knew that they were going to come out strong, because they have a really good record and they're a really fast team, so our coach kind of stressed the fact that we couldn't stand back and we couldn't not be ready for the ball. We had to stay on our toes and be ready at all times and I thought we really made sure that we did that. We still have some work to do on individual defense and keeping possession, but I thought we played really well and we came out strong."

The remaining schedule features games against Nazareth (8-3-1), Northampton (5-4), Parkland (6-2-2) and Whitehall. Parkland is the only team to put a blemish on the Emmaus record this season, playing the Hornets to a 1-1 tie.

For Sholder, her sophomore season has been more of a grind than her freshman season when she scored 47 goals. This season, she's much more of a known entity and teams are consistently double-teaming her, which has cut into her scoring opportunities. She has still recorded a team-leading 26 goals on the year. While the added pressure has been frustrating, Sholder has come to expect it and continues to work to find ways to get around the added coverage.

"We played Owen J. [Roberts] and I know their coach really well and he had someone mark me the whole, entire time," said Sholder. "I didn't touch the ball much, because someone was on me all the time and they completely took me out of the game and I guess that's a smart thing to do.

"People have been marking me really well, but I've learned to work around it. I'm getting better at working around it and kind of holding and then running to the ball. So far, so good."

With so much effort being placed on defenses to stop Sholder, fellow sophomore Maddy Dorn (14 goals) and freshman Leah Zellner (11 goals) have stepped up and Sholder is not only comfortable, but willing to help them find scoring opportunities.

"It's nice having people actually carry the ball, like Maddy [Dorn] is really good at carrying the ball and Tara [Tracchio] is really good at carrying the ball on the right and Leah Zellner is really good at carrying up the ball on the left, so it's really nice to be able to dish the ball off and then trusting them. I think we work really well together."

Emmaus has already clinched a spot in the EPC playoffs, but isn't ready to let up since there's still more to accomplish.

If undefeated Stroudsburg wins its five remaining conference games, it will clinch the top spot in the tournament, so Emmaus has to hope it gets a little help from other teams, since Emmaus and Stroudsburg don't meet during the regular season.

Emmaus can clinch the division title with three more wins or losses from other teams. Also factored in is a rematch with Parkland, that gives the Lady Hornets the chance for some revenge from their earlier game that resulted in a tie.