Emmaus field hockey head coach Sue Butz-Stavin admits Saturday’s win over Parkland wasn’t one of the Hornets’ better outings through 19 games. But at this point in the season, it’s a win-and-advance motto across the Lehigh Valley.

The Hornets lived to fight another day, but Butz-Stavin understands a lot must change moving forward in the playoffs.

Emmaus (19-0 overall, 17-0 in EPC) scored three first-half goals and disposed of Parkland, 4-0, on Saturday at Memorial Field in the first round of the East Penn Conference tournament.

The win advanced the Hornets to the semifinals round against Liberty on Tuesday. Results of that game were not available at time of press.

“It wasn’t our best effort today,” Butz-Stavin said. “We did enough to grind through. We just have to be smarter. Our body language was bad today if something didn’t go right. We just weren’t energized. I never like Homecoming weekend when we have to play because the kids are distracted.”

After playing Parkland (10-7; 10-6) just three days earlier and defeating the Trojans 9-1, Emmaus didn’t look as sharp over the weekend. And it was evident from the beginning.

“Actually a loss probably would have kicked us in the butt a little bit and woke us up a little bit,” Butz-Stavin said. “We’ll go back to the drawing board on Monday. We don’t have a lot of time to prepare [for Liberty].”

Emmaus got on the scoreboard nearly 11 minutes into action on Annika Herbine’s goal. Then, Kayla Kisthardt ripped a shot by Parkland goalie Mackenzie Galucy for a quick 2-0 lead with 13:14 remaining in the first half.

The Hornets increased their lead to 3-0 when Kacie Patton scored four minutes prior to halftime, but several opportunities were left on the field. Emmaus held a 9-0 advantage in shots on goal and recorded four corners opposed to none for Parkland in the opening 30 minutes. Yet the Hornets took just a 3-0 lead into halftime.

“I think [goalie] Claire [Nielsen] played a solid game, and our defense held up today,” Butz-Stavin said. “We just turned the ball over, and we were numbers down. That created a lot of chaos on the field.”

Parkland opened the second half with some prime chances on goal, but none could find its way by Nielsen. The Trojans’ best opportunity came when Aubrey Semler had two open shots on goal at the midway point of the second half. Both were saved by Nielsen, who finished with four stops in net for Emmaus.

Riley Baughman set up Herbine for her second goal of the game with 6:37 to play, all but ending any chance Parkland had for a comeback.

“I think if we can get back to where we were in the midfield and finishing up on attack, we’ll be fine,” Butz-Stavin said. “Right now our defense is starting to shape up. We get a little versatility of people coming off the bench here, so things can be good. We always have high expectations, but then the kids have to bring it onto the field.”

The EPC championship is scheduled for Thursday night. Time and location are to be determined pending Tuesday’s semifinals results.