4/19/19
RECAP >> It’s been a tough four games in an nine-day stretch for the Emmaus girls lacrosse team.
Make that now fives games in 11 days.
Emmaus suffered arguably its toughest defeat to date on Wednesday night at home at Memorial Field as they dropped their fifth straight game, falling to Freedom 14-13 on a last-second goal.
“Our girls are so frustrated right now because they are playing so hard and they played well tonight and we couldn’t have asked for them to put together a better game,” said Hornets head coach Roxann Betz.
“I felt we needed to win this game to get our momentum going back the other direction and I feel like they deserved this win. “
Instead, it was the Patriots walking away with the ‘W’ as junior Katie Flynn delivered the dagger to the hearts of the stunned Hornets as she scored the game-winning goal with just :26.5 left on the clock to give Freedom its second one-goal win over Emmaus in as many years. Flynn, the team’s leading scorer (48 on the season), also scored the game-tying goal with 1:04 left in regulation, all part of her team-high four-goal effort.
Emmaus had one last chance with no time showing on the clock to tie the game following a Freedom penalty, but Patriots goalie Grace Christenson turned away Tori Brown’s shot off a free possession to preserve the victory. Brown was inserted into the game when junior Kaitlyn Csensits went down with an injury and was forced to leave the game.
Earlier, with Emmaus leading 13-12, the Hornets had a golden opportunity to take a two-goal lead when senior Taylor O’Brien won the draw control and raced to goal. But a ‘no-call’ was made by the official when it appeared O’Brien had been tripped up on the play.
“Absolutely there should have been foul,” said a frustrated Betz. “It looked like the girl clearly stuck her knee out to stop her from driving to the goal. In that situation and the Kaitlyn situation we have two girls that can put the ball in the back of the net for us and neither one got that opportunity.”
“It’s frustrating, but again it doesn’t come down to just that call.”
The Hornets dropped to 2-5 in the EPC and 4-6 overall following the loss, while the Patriots improved to 6-2 in the league and 9-2 overall.
In defeat, O’Brien reached yet another milestone as she scored her 200th career goal with 6:08 left in the first half. The senior wound up with a hat trick on the night and now has 200 career goals to go along with 93 assists, leaving her just seven points shy of reaching her next goal — the 300-point mark.
Csensits had another outstanding game for the Hornets as scored a career-high five goals, one day after scoring four goals in the team’s 19-7 loss to Easton. Teammate senior Grace Hall also had four-goal game.
Freedom outshot Emmaus 27-19 in the game and the Pates held a 16-11 advantage at the draw controls. Hornets senior goalie Chloe Gerhard made 11 saves between the pipes, while her counterpart Christianson was credited with nine stops.
Emmaus will look to snap its five-game losing skid on Monday when they step out of league play and travel to Governor Mifflin. Opening faceoff is set for 4 p.m.
The Hornets have eight games remaining on their schedule and will need to go 5-3 in order to reach the District XI playoffs for the 11th straight season.
“We have to fight in all of our remaining games,” said Betz. “I think it’s going to be a challenge for these kids to mentally continue to fight after losing five straight. If we can pull them together and they can get a win under their belts, I think we are going to have a chance to get there but we have a big fight ahead of us.”
To listen to a replay of last night’s game, visit www.pennsportsradio.com
Freedom – 7-7 – 14
Emmaus – 8-5 – 13
Freedom goals – Katie Flynn 4, Emma Telatovich 3, Abigail Burnette 3, Mackenzie Dudeck 2, Rebekah Fodale, Kailey Turpening
Freedom assists – Caitlin Donello 2, Fodale, Dudeck, Turpening
Freedom saves – Christenson 6
Emmaus goals – Kaitlyn Csensits 5, Grace Hall 4, Taylor O’Brien 3, Emma Schoenly
Emmaus assists – Hall 2, O’Brien 2
Emmaus saves – Gerhard 11
