Ella Daly picked the perfect time to score her first career varsity goal.
The Emmaus sophomore, better known for her prowess as one of the best defenders in all of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, scored the ‘golden goal’ with 8:56 left in the first overtime leading the Hornets to a thrilling 1-0 victory over Northampton at Memorial Field in the opening round of the league playoffs.
Daly, recently named a third team all-star, took a pass from the team’s leading assist player, sophomore Lizzie Bender, and put it past Konkrete Kid goalie Emma Fry for the game-winner advancing Emmaus to the next round.
“It was a phenomenal, it’s a set play that we work on occasionally,” said Emmaus coach Chris Hain who picked up his first career win the post-season. “We don’t work on set plays a ton but when we do that’s one of the ones we work on.”
“Lizzie did a great job of reading the press from the defender, dribbled in behind her and just played the ball in. It was a dangerous ball and we’ve been telling our players all year that if you get to the back post that you will get goals.”
And’s that exactly what Daly did.
“We send Ella in on corner kicks because she is really good and she happened to be at the back post and got the goal,” said Hain. “She’s probably our most dangerous player.”
The victory marked the second time this season that the Hornets (15-2-2 overall) have defeated Northampton. The two teams met back on September 13 at Northampton with Emmaus prevailing 2-1.
Emmaus dominated play and had a couple of good scoring chances in the first half but nothing to show for it resulting in the game being scoreless at the break.
“We played a really good first half,” said Hain. “The first 10 minutes of the second half I thought like we were playing like we did in the first and then we started to press. We started to do some things that we wouldn’t necessarily do and got away from our game and turned the ball over a lot and it caused us to the chase the game. Once we settled back down though in the second half it came together for us.”
Up next for Emmaus will be a semifinal date on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at BASD Stadium where they will take on top-seeded Central Catholic, which did all of its scoring in the second half in their 5-0 win over eighth-seeded Whitehall. The Hornets and Vikettes met earlier this season (back on September 6) with the two teams playing to a scoreless draw.
“We are going to have to be disciplined in everything that we do,” said Hain. “Central is one of those teams that if you turn the ball over in spurts like we did tonight, they are going to make you pay for it. We have to do everything right, but I believe in our players.”
Northampton, which entered the match having lost three of its last five regular-season games, dropped to 13-5-1 on the season. The Konkrete Kids will now prep for the upcoming District XI Class 4A Tournament.
For the match, each team had six shots on goal. Senior Ashley Stine picked up her 13th shutout of the win stopping all six shots she faced, while her counterpart, Fry, was credited with five saves.
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No – 0-0-0 – 0
Em -0-0-1 – 1
Scoring:
Em – Ella Daly (assist Lizzy Bender)
Stats:
SOG – Em 6, No 6
Saves – Em (Ashley Stein 6), No (Emma Fry 5)