Following Emmaus’ 6-0 win over Whitehall in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference quarterfinals on Saturday, the team meeting was punctuated by Meredith Sholder’s coughing spell.

The school’s all-time scorer, who recently notched her 200th career goal, played the game with a bad cold, but still scored two goals and added an assist to send Emmaus (19-0) to the semifinals against Easton.

Sholder took a quick breather on the bench during the first half, but otherwise, she was on the field for the entire game even though she wasn’t feeling very good. When asked if pulling Sholder from the game was a consideration, coach Sue Butz-Stavin was pretty succinct in her response.

“No,” said Butz-Stavin with a laugh. “Only if she felt that she needed to come out. It really has an impact on our corner defense and you’ve got to make changes. Even though we practice with other people in there, she makes a big difference on how quick she gets out and is able to block.”

Emmaus beat Whitehall by a 1-0 score nine days earlier, becoming the only team to stay within a goal of the Hornets all season. This time, Emmaus wasn’t going to take any chances and looked to send a very early message in the game.

“We talked about it at practice, that they’re probably saying ‘we have a chance of winning,’” said forward Kira Koehler. “We just wanted to shut them down right from the beginning and we were successful at doing that. At half, it was 4-0 and we wanted more and put two more in during the second half. Overall, we played a lot better today and passed a lot better than the last time that we played them.”

Koehler contributed with a goal and two assists in the game and has picked up her scoring late in the season. The senior was quick to deflect the credit though, noting that it’s other players who put her in a position to contribute.

“It’s just my role on the field as a forward,” said Koehler. “Everybody else behind me does their part to give me the ball so I have that opportunity and although they don’t get the recognition with the assists or goals, they’re the ones setting up those plays and we couldn’t do it without them.”

In addition to Sholder and Koehler, Emmaus got two goals from Leah Zellner and another from Kayla Kisthardt, who also assisted on Sholder’s first goal. Maddie Orobono set up Koehler’s goal.

“We have different players who can contribute,” said Butz-Stavin. “Leah is very capable of scoring, so is Kira and Emily [Ingalls] has been in on the shooting, Kisthardt now, along with [Maddy] Dorn and Orobono. All of those kids are capable of scoring, so they all have to fill in if Mere isn’t there.”

While neither the players or coaches were happy with how the team played against Whitehall, they’re sensing a new intensity now that the regular season is over and the team is battling through the conference playoffs and preparing for districts and likely another trip to states.

“We’re basically in a new season,” said Butz-Stavin. “The tempo and the mindset has to be a little bit different now that you’re in postseason play.

“We would like to win the conference championship, but if we lose here, we don’t get eliminated like in districts. In districts, if you come with a bad game, your season’s done then.”

Coming off of a state championship, Emmaus now has a streak of 46 straight wins and would like to keep it going in the postseason as the team chases another state title and follows up on last year’s undefeated season.

“As a senior, it feels a lot different [than last season],” said Koehler, “because we’re in the leadership role and we feel like we have control over our team and our play right now.

“It feels awesome and we feel like we’re going to go all the way. We have that huge target on our backs, but we’re going to win states again.”