RECAP >> Both Ben Thomas and Stu Speicher were not in the best of moods late in the afternoon last Friday.
Following a first-ever program loss to Freedom 10-8, the defeat left a sour taste with both the Emmaus defenseman and head coach.
“Losing to Freedom was tough and it left a bad taste in our mouths,” said Thomas, a senior.
“It was disappointing. It was a game with a lot of emotion and not the best sportsmanship from either side and we needed to learn how to handle it better than we did” added Speicher.
The Hornets did learn and, after suffering their first league loss of the season, were able to put the disappointment behind them exactly 24 hours later as they took their frustration out on Southern Lehigh.
Using a seven-goal second period and getting scoring from seven different players, Emmaus cruised to an easy 16-3 win over the Spartans on Saturday afternoon at Southern Lehigh Middle School Stadium in the fifth annual “Battle Lax ” charity game that creates awareness to fight cancer.
Emmaus actually trailed early in the game as the Spartans jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter, but after the slow start it was all Hornets as they scored 15 goals over the next three quarters while the defense limited Solehi to just one score the rest of the way.
“With the slow start we were still upset about last night,” admitted Thomas who anchors the Emmaus defense. “Losing to Freedom was tough and we just had to step it up. I had to lose my temper a little bit to get the guys going but once it clicked we know what kind of team we are.”
For Speicher, the game couldn’t have come at a better time for his team.
“We needed it. If there was every a good time to play back to back games today was the day,” he said.
“Coming off a conference loss and going down early we had that little doomsday look in our eyes but the boys responded well. I give a lot of credit to coach (Marc) Feldman and the offense for getting us right back on our toes.”
Senior Connor Flok led the attack with a seven-point effort with a game-high five goals and two assists, while sophomore Will Barber was right behind with a six point game, four goals and two helpers. Senior Liam Porecca added a hat trick in the win and sophomore Liam Rooney dished out four assists.
Defensively, Emmaus held Southern Lehigh to just one goal over the final three quarters.
“(Goalie) Jared (Speicher) did an awesome job,” said Thomas of his senior netminder who made eight saves. “Sean Higgins and Danny Ahne came ready to play and those guys work hard every day and (Gavin) Cronin was out for today’s game but he recently came back off of a ACL injury and he’s always ready to play.”
With the victory, Emmaus improved to 10-3 overall and now prepare for arguably the toughest stretch of their schedule.
Defending Class 2A state champ and rival Central Catholic (9-0) comes to Memorial Field on Tuesday and then the Hornets will travel to Easton (11-2) on Thursday followed by a non-league game at home on Saturday against always tough Perkiomen Valley.
Next week it’s a much improved Northwestern team (May 2) followed by a trip north up Cedar Crest Boulevard to take on rival Parkland (May 4).
“This week … it’s huge,” said Thomas. “It’s going to be a great test against Central Catholic to see where we are at with our season and how much work we have to do. We’re excited for the challenge.”
Said Speicher: “There are no easy ones left. Any win we can get now is going to help us with our district seeding.”
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Emmaus 16, Solehi 3
Em – 1-7-4-4 – 16
SL – 2-0-0-1 – 3
Em – Connor Flok 5g/2a, Will Barber 4g/2a, Liam Porreca 3g, Liam Rooney 1g/4a, Sikander Saed 1g/1a, John Hughes 1g, Kaleb Mains 1g, Jared Speicher 8 saves
SL – Ben Malicki 2g, Caiden Fleckenstein 1g/1a, Seth Young 1a, Alex Garcia 5 saves
PHOTO GALLERY (Courtesy Nathan Lewis)
