Emmaus 2, Stroudsburg 0 (District XI Semifinals)
RECAP — The Emmaus field hockey team’s pursuit of a 30th straight District XI Championship remained alive last night thanks to its leading scorer Riley Baughman.
Emmaus’ senior forward scored a pair of second-half goals and the Hornets defense proved stout, posting its 19th shutout of the season in the team’s 2-0 win over Stroudsburg in the District XI Semifinals held at the Zephyr Sports Complex at Whitehall High School.
The victory advances top-seeded Emmaus (23-0) into Wednesday’s 7 p.m. championship game back at Whitehall where they’ll take on a familiar foe in second-seeded Easton, which defeated Pocono Mountain East 1-0 in overtime in the other semifinal.
The Hornets and the Red Rovers will be meeting in the district final for the second consecutive year after Emmaus defeated Easton 2-1 in overtime to capture its 29th straight championship. Less than two weeks ago, Emmaus also beat the Red Rovers 2-1 in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship game, and in the regular-season meeting on September 28, the Hornets rolled to a 5-1 win.
Both Emmaus and Easton also punched their tickets into the PIAA State Tournament which gets underway on November 6.
After a scoreless first half, the Hornets were finally able to get on the scoreboard less than four minutes into the second half as Baughman scored her team-leading 46th goal of the season off an assist from junior Kaitlyn Csensits, her sixth of the year.
Baughman later added her second goal of the game and 47th of the year as she took a pass from teammate sophomore Annika Herbine and blasted a shot into the top part of the cage past Stroudsburg junior goalie Emma Valinote for a 2-0 lead with 6:20 remaining in the game.
Emmaus dominated the Mounties statistically holding a commanding 17-3 advantage in shots on goal and 15-4 margin in penalty corners. Hornets senior goalie Claire Nielsen picked up her 19th shutout of the season stopping all three shots she faced. Junior Liz Mazzella also played an outstanding game coming up with the defensive play of the game late in the second half stopping a potential Stroudsburg goal with Nielsen out of the cage.
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Sb – 0 -0 – 0
Em – 0 – 2 – 2
Em goals – Riley Baughman (assist Kaitlyn Csensits), 26:08
Baughman (assist Annika Herbine), 6:20
SOG – Em 17, Sb 3
Saves – Em (Nielsen 3), Sb (Valinote 15)
Corners – Em 15, Sb 4
Starters (Emmaus) – Kociban, Mancini, Madison Bruns, Herbine, Csensits, Mazzella, Baughman, Kisthardt, Muller, Patton, Nielsen