The referees in the PIAA quarterfinal game between Downingtown West and Emmaus called a very tight game, handing out five cards during the contest.

The last call of the game turned out to be the biggest when Emmaus was awarded a penalty stroke with 7:32 left in overtime.

Kira Koehler was taken down heading toward the goal, resulting in a penalty stroke for Emmaus’ Meredith Sholder. She didn’t miss. Sholder put the ball in the lower right corner of the goal cage for her 57th tally of the season, and a 3-2 Emmaus win.

With the victory, Emmaus moves on to a semifinal matchup, where they’ll meet Penn Manor.

“There should have been a lot more,” said coach Sue Butz-Stavin, admitting that a few of her team’s cards were merited. “But if they’re going to start giving cards, there was so much more out there that was physical. That should have been the carding part of the game.”

While the Downingtown coaching staff vehemently protested the final call, Sholder thought about how she wanted to approach the potential winning shot.

“I always second-guess myself and I’m always afraid that they know my stroke, because I always go the same way,” said Sholder. “The times that I’ve tried to go left, I’ve missed in the past, so I’ve just been going with my gut and sticking with the same spot and it’s been working so far.”

The winning shot ended a frustrating day for the Emmaus senior, who found herself surrounded by Whippets throughout the game.

“It got frustrating, because they were calling a lot of fouls, but there were a lot that weren’t getting called, too,” said Sholder, who was playing against one of her future North Carolina University teammates. “They had me pretty well marked and there were a lot of balls that I just couldn’t do much with.”

Downingtown’s Romea Riccardo, who is a year behind Sholder, will eventually join the Emmaus stand-out with the Tar Heels.

Downingtown West got on the board first, when Riccardo scored 11 minutes into the first half. The Hornets didn’t trail for long and struck back a little more than two minutes later when Sholder found Dorn off a corner to tie the game. Two-minutes later, Zellner refused to take no for an answer when she played a rebound of her own shot and smoked it into the goal for a 2-1 lead.

The Whippets tied the game just over two-minutes into the second half on a goal from Laine Garber and neither team could regain the lead after that. Emmaus had an opportunity on a corner with 2:04 left in regulation and called a time-out prior to the play to set the play, but Downingtown West foiled the chance and the game went into overtime.

Sholder credited Downingtown West with playing a hard, physical game that took the defending state champions to the brink, but she also thought that her team may have come out a little overconfident after an easy 8-1 win over Central Bucks East in the opening round of states.

“They played really aggressive and it was tough for us, because I believe we weren’t ready,” said Sholder. “I feel like the game on Tuesday came really easily for us and so we just weren’t expecting it, which is disappointing on our part. We just need to pick it up next time.”

Emmaus is now 26-0 as it fights toward defending its state championship from last season. One more win will move the Hornets into the finals, which will be played at Whitehall High School Saturday afternoon.