RECAP >> Facing its largest deficit of the season on Saturday afternoon on a damp and dreay day at home at Memorial Field, the Emmaus field hockey team didn’t let the weather or its opponent have any effect as the Hornets rallied with an incredible effort to defeat Oak Knoll, NJ 4-2 in a matchup of nationally-ranked teams.
Emmaus, the No.1 ranked team in Pennsylvania and in the country, scored four unanswered goals after falling behind 2-0 in the second quarter to knock off the Royals, the No.2 ranked team in New Jersey.
Junior Melea Weber’s goal with 3:04 left in the third quarter broke a 2-2 tie and wound up being the game-winning goal for the Hornets, who remained unbeaten on the season (14-0). Weber, a University of North Carolina commit, also added an insurance goal – her second of the game and 22nd of the season – early in the four quarter to close out the scoring.
Emmaus, which had outscored its opponents 137-1 entering play, had trailed for the first time all season just five minutes into the game as senior Morgan Willis (Colgate commit) had given the visitors a 1-0 lead. The Royals increased their lead to 2-0 on a goal from senior Emma Ramsey (Yale commit) in the second quarter, but that would be all the scoring Oak Knoll would generate for the rest of the game.
Junior Haley Kvacky had gotten Emmaus on the scoreboard with 6:26 left in the second quarter with her seventh goal of the season off an assist from senior Ava Zerfass, cutting the lead to 2-1. Four minutes later, the Hornets tied the game off a penalty corner on senior Abby Burnett’s 20th goal of the season off an assist from senior Rachel Herbine.
Hornets junior goalie Emma Cari was credited with 11 saves and picked up the win posting a shutout in the second half.
Oak Knoll, a private catholic school located in Summit, NJ, dropped to 7-3 on the season with the loss. The Royals have won 12 state titles overall in program history, including four straight.
For the first time all season Emmaus did not win in the stats category as Oak Knoll outshot the Hornets 16-9 and held a 14-9 edge in penalty corners.
Emmaus will return to league action on Monday at 6:30 p.m. as they host Whitehall.
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Emmaus 4, Oak Knoll, NJ 2
Oak Knoll – 1-1-0-0 – 2
Emmaus – 0-2-1-1- 4
Scoring:
Q1
Oak – Morgan Willis (assist Julia Ramsey)
Q2
Oak – Emma Ramsey (assist Lailia Pasic)
Em – Haley Kvacky (assist AvaZerfass)
Em – Abby Burnett (assist Rachel Herbine)
Q3
Em – Melea Weber (assist Autum Kernechel)
Q4
Em – Melea Weber