It was almost a year ago to the date when Melea Weber and her Emmaus teammates walked off the turf at Hamburg High School in Berks County with the hard realization that their season was over.
In its quest to win a third straight PIAA Class 3A State championship, Weber and the Hornets were stunned in disbelief as they watched District 3’s Wilson celebrate a 2-1 come-from-behind victory with a goal with less than five seconds left on the scoreboard.
The loss, while disappointing and heartbreaking, was one the Hornets haven’t forgotten and it’s fueled the 2023 squad, which was already playing this season with heavy hearts following the passing of one of their beloved teammates, Hailey Cook, earlier this season.
Returning to the same venue and the same round where it’s had its season ended two of the last four years, Emmaus excorised some of their demons from the past as they shutout District 3 runner-up Lower Dauphin 2-0 in the PIAA Class 3A state semifinals.
Weber, who entered the game with 63 goals on the season, added to her total as she scored a goal in each half and the Hornets ‘D’, sparked by the stellar play of senior goalie Emma Cari, knocked off the defending state champs.
With the victory, Emmaus improves to 25-1 on the season and they’ll have an opportunity to win the program’s 15th state title when they take on another District 3 foe – Manheim Township – which rolled to a surprisingly-easy 7-0 rout over rival Warwick, the fourth-place team from District 3.
The championship game will be played at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Cumberland Valley High in Mechanicsburg and will be aired LIVE on The Eastern Pa. Sports Network beginning with the pregame show at 2:40 p.m.
Emmaus scored the only goal they would need in last night’s victory less than five minutes into the game when Weber found the back of the cage with her 64th goal of the season off of an assist from senior Autumn Held.
The lead stayed 1-0 at the half before the Hornets were able to add a big insurance goal as Weber converted on a penalty stroke in the waning seconds of the third quarter to make it 2-0. Weber also had a pair of goals – both via the penalty stroke – in last Saturday’s 7-1 quarterfinal round win over District 2 champ Wyoming Valley West.
Defensively, Emmaus posted its 19th shutout of the season. Cari came up with a number of big saves in the middle quarters in front of stellar backline featuring Held, senior Sarah Schaffer and sophomore Morgann Orobono.
Lower Dauphin, which was coming off of a thrilling 2-1 quarterfinal round overtime win over previously-undefeated Conestoga, the District One champs, ended their season at 20-4. The Falcons were shutout for the first time on the season.
Statistically, Emmaus outshot Lower Dauphin 9-6 in the game with each team having six penalty corners. Cari was credited with six saves, while her counterpart, junior Kai Killion, made four stops.
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Emmaus 2, Lower Dauphin 0
Em – 1-0-1-0 – 2
LD – 0-0-0-0 – 0
Scoring:
Q1:
Em – Melea Weber (assist Autumn Held)
Q3:
Em – Weber (PS)
PHOTO GALLERY (Courtesy of Nicholas Romano)
