First games aren’t always the prettiest, but hey, if you can go on the road and pick up a win against a good quality opponent you’ll take it.
And that’s what Emmaus did on Friday night in their season-opener against Souderton from the Suburban One Conference, picking up a one-goal 9-8 victory and giving their first year head coach Justin Fuhrman his first win on the sidelines.
“It was a really good test for our team,” said Fuhrman, who was hired back in January. “Had it been against a team from the EPC, obviously we would have been more familiar with the opponent, but early in the season you want to test yourself against an opponent a little bit more unknown and try to come away with the win.”
And the Hornets did just that – by the slimmest of margins, scoring all their goals in the first and third periods and then holding off a late rally by the home team.
Senior Liam Rooney was the catalyst in leading the Hornets to the victory scoring five goals, including the game-winner in the third quarter. Classmate Will Barber, despite being closely-guarded all night long, still wound up scoring a pair of goals – both in the first half – while Kaleb Mains also added a pair of scores.
“They (Souderton) were locking down on Will, trying to stop him in the game and that’s where Liam stepped up,” pointed out Fuhrman. “We ran our offense like we wanted to and we had to adjust so credit to Liam.
“Kaleb also stepped up and he’s a captain. He was getting crushed out on the field all night because it was a physical game.”
Emmaus led 5-2 in the first quarter, but the had trouble possessing the ball in the second quarter as Souderton dominated play and evened the score at 5-5 at the half.
“We came out a little dicey early on in the the game but then we started to play exactly how we wanted to play going up by three at the end of the first quarter,” said Fuhrman. “In the second quarter we only had two possessions and we couldn’t clear. Up 9-6 in the third we actually had man-up opportunity and I knew if we got that 10th goal it would have been tough for them to come back.
“We played good defense late in the game and Sam Rainford was the player of the game with 18 saves, 10 in the fourth quarter. The game could have been tied or worse, but he made a couple of of big saves under two minutes to play. We didn’t play nearly as crisp as we wanted to, but I’m thrilled with the way we dug in and supported each other and came away with the victory.”
At the faceoff-X, senior Jahkari Christian and sophomore Colin Garrett split time for the Hornets, who won just 7 of the 19 against Souderton junior Peyton Bannak.
Fuhrman also pointed out the efforts of two seniors – Marcus Puentes and Ryan Kiernan, both soccer players – who made impacts in their first action on the lacrosse field.
“Marcus played at short stick and he played flawlessy,” said Fuhrman, “and Ryan added a spark off the bench, digging his nose in for ground balls.”
Souderton was led in scoring by senior attack John Martin-Vince who shared scoring honors with Rooney in the game with five goals. Classmate middie Seth Grossman added a goal and a game-high three assists, while seniors Sean and Gavin Landis each added one goal. In goal, Ryan Johnson made four stops.
The Indians finished 12-6 a year ago and are looking to compete for the SOL title and make a deep run in the District One Tournament.
Emmaus will return to action on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. as they travel to Pleasant Valley for their EPC opener before hosting Easton on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in their home opener. The game will carried LIVE on The Eastern Pa. Sports Network begining at 6:15 p.m.
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Em – 5-0-4-0 – 9
So – 2-3-1-2 – 8
Scoring –
Em – Liam Rooney 5g, Will Barber 2g, Kaleb Mains 2g, Sam Rainford 18 saves
So – John Martin-Vince 5g/1a, Seth Grossman 1g/3a, Sean Landis 1g/1a, Gavin Landis 1g, Ryan Johnson 4 saves