Coach Sue Butz-Stavin is in her 39th season as the head coach of the Emmaus field hockey team, so it's safe to say that she knows every strategy that works in the game.

That's why when she looks at her team, she doesn't recognize its current trend of falling behind early only to rally back as any sort of solid strategy. The team's latest comeback was a 3-1 win over Wyoming Valley West in the PIAA quarter-finals, which were played in Berwick.

"That's not a new strategy," said Butz-Stavin about falling behind early. "It never was in my book."

Just under eight minutes into the game, the Spartans' Megan Kane was able to score on a penalty corner, continuing the trend of teams putting Emmaus in an early 1-0 hole. Emmaus also fell behind 1-0 to Conestoga in the opening round of the state tournament, but came back to win 7-1.

In two state playoff games, Emmaus has scored a combined 10 unanswered goals after falling behind and has outscored its opponents 8-0 in the second half of those two games.

"You just don't like giving that early goal," Butz-Stavin said. "It's something that we should have been easily able to defend on a penalty corner, but it happened and we had plenty of time to come back and not to panic and we came back to score."

It took some time, but Emmaus (24-1-1) tied the score with 6:00 remaining in the first half when Meredith Sholder scored her 45th goal of the season. A little over one minute later, Brittany Morgan notched the first of her two goals to put the Lady Hornets up 2-1 at halftime. Morgan would get her second goal of the game with 20:45 left in the game. The sophomore also had two goals in the district semifinal game against Easton.

"I had two great passes from Alicia [Cooperman] and Tara [Tracchio]," said Morgan. "They were wide open and made great passes and I got a tip in around the goalie."

Cooperman had two assists on the day, while Tracchio and Sholder each had one. Cooperman and Sholder were both awarded assists on Morgan's final goal.

Emmaus went on to face Palmyra (22-2) in Tuesday's semifinals, after Press deadline, with a spot in the PIAA Championship, which will be played Saturday at Whitehall High School. Palmyra's two losses this season were both against Lower Dauphin, last year's state champion. Lower Dauphin was eliminated Saturday in a 1-0 loss to Penn Manor.

"At this point," said Butz-Stavin. "You know you're going to be playing good teams, so you just have to be prepared for tough games, which is why it's important for us to come out stronger than we have."

Emmaus has only been shutout once this season, which came against Stroudsburg in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference finals. They've also not allowed more than one goal per game all season long, so an early deficit doesn't affect them the way it would other teams. Still, it's something that Butz-Stavin wants to address and is hoping that the trend comes to a quick end.

"At least we come back and we don't just fall," said Morgan, looking for a bright spot in falling behind early. "When they get a goal, we get pumped up and go for the goals. We've been pretty good at that."