Emmaus may have gone into its Eastern Pennsylvania Conference semifinal matchup against Easton on Wednesday night as a decided underdog but know this: the Hornets gave the three-time defending champs all they could handle and then some.
Facing a Red Rovers which squad which had lost only once this season in in 17 games, head coach Justin Fuhrman’s team went toe-to-toe for 48 minutes and nearly pulled off the upset before falling late in a wildly entertaining 14-13 shootout at Northampton High School.
Emmaus, which had battled Easton in an earlier season matchup falling 10-7, led for much of the first half and even into the second half had them on the ropes. But the Red Rovers, behind a career-high eight goal performance from league MVP Sean McPeek, had a little too much down the stretch as they survived and advanced back to the finals.
Easton (17-1 overall) will face Central Catholic, a 12-5 winner of Parkland in the other semifinal, on Tuesday, May 12 at 7:35 p.m. back at Northampton aiming for their fourth straight league title.
For Emmaus (10-9), up next will be the District XI 3A Tournament which gets underway on Friday, May 15.
The Hornets, who were coming off one of their better performances of the regular season in a 10-9 loss at rival Parkland, had a balanced scoring attack with six different players figuring into the scoring column.
Junior Anthony Attar had a monster effort with a career-high five goals to go along with two assists. Sophomore Dylan Maloney, a second team EPC all-star selection, had a six point night with three goals and three assists, while classmate Greyson added a pair of goals. Junior Reiken Bechtel also scored his third goal of the season and classmate Avery Bohm added his fourth. In goal, freshman Liam Lewis made seven stops.
McPeek scored four goals in each half to lead Easton while juniors Peter Assise and Evan Placotaris each added a pair of scores. Senior Oran Prentice two goals late in the fourth quarter proved to be the difference for the Red Rovers in the win.
The official District XI matchups will be announced at a later date. Emmaus will likely be the No. 5 seed and travel to fourth-seeded Nazareth for the second consecutive season. A year ago, the Blue Eagles ended the Hornets season with a goal as time expired in a 11-10 win.
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Easton 14, Emmaus 13
Em – 5-3-3-2 – 13
Ea – 3-3-5-3 – 14
Scoring:
Em – Anthony Attar 5g/2a, Dylan Maloney 3g/3a, Greyson Schmidt 2g/1a, Reiken Bechtel 1g, Avery Bohm 1g, Alex Younker 1g/1a, Liam Lewis 7 saves
Ea – Sean McPeek 8g/2a, Peter Assise 2g/2a, Evan Placotaris 2g/1a, Oran Prentice 2g, Adam Lapham 12 saves