Perhaps Chris Hain described it best when talking about his team’s performance on the big stage in yesterday’s Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship game.
“You have to show up and play a full 80 minutes. It’s as simple as that and we didn’t do that,” said Emmaus’ girls soccer coach.
Looking to avenge their only loss of the season on picture perfect morning at the Zephyr Sports Complex in Whitehall, the Hornets couldn’t have asked for a better start in their quest to win their first-ever EPC title as they were able to score the game’s first goal and grab a 1-0 lead against an undefeated Nazareth squad, the top seed.
But that advantage was short-lived, and unfortunately, it meant the beginning of what turned into a difficult second half of soccer for Emmaus as they watched the Blue Eagles captured their first league championship in program history with a 3-1 victory.
Nazareth, which stopped Emmaus’ 14-game win streak earlier this season, handing the Hornets their first loss of the season on October 7 (1-0), rallied to score three unanswered goals, including scored a pair of scores in the second half just three minutes apart as they remained unbeaten on the season (21-0) while defeating Emmaus for the second time in a span of 17 days.
“We just didn’t get it done … another year,” said a frustrated Hain. “The blame is probably on me. We didn’t compete like the way we did in the first half. It was (frustrating). Too much space in the midfield. We talked about it in film and we talked about it in training. You can’t give them room. Just can’t do it.”
Giuliana Meyer, one of the league’s top goal scorers, had given Emmaus a 1-0 lead midway through the first half with her 21st goal of the season. It was the first goal allowed by Nazareth since a 3-1 win over Central Catholic on October 1, ending a string of seven straight shutouts.
That, however, would be only goal the Hornets would score on the afternoon.
The Blue Eagles found the equalizer with 7:37 left in the first half as sophomore Kassidy Hartman scored her seventh goal of the season on an unfortunate break for Emmaus sophomore goalie Zoe Reppert who saved a bouncing ball in the box that carried her over the goal line resulting in the game being tied at 1-1.
“It was tough for me to see the angle on the goal from the sidelines,” said Hain. “There were a bunch of things on that sequence that led to that goal. It’s frustrating but there was a whole second half left to play. You just have to fight through those things.”
Nazareth, which completed an impressive run through the league tournament outscoring their three opponents – Freedom, CCHS and Emmaus 10-1 – then took the lead for good in the 56th minute as senior Madison Jankowski scored her team-leading 27th goal of the season, and then three minutes later, freshman Mia Ksiezopolski took a crossing pass and put it past Reppert for a big insurance goal to make it 3-1.
“You have to show up and play a full 80 minutes,” said Hain. “It’s as simple as that. You can’t just play 70 minutes. We had opportunities just like the first time we played them. The difference in the game was that they finished and we didn’t.”
Emmaus managed just three of shots on goal while Nazareth had six. The Blue Eagles also had the advantage in corners, 7-3.
“We did not test their keeper enough and the one time we did out of the three (shots) we scored,” said Hain.
Reppert, who was making her first career start a championship game, was credited with three saves in goal for the Hornets while her counterpart, Nazareth senior Rylie Repsher, made two stops.
The three goals given up by Emmaus were easily the most in a single game this season. They entered the game allowing just four goals in 20 games.
Up next for the Hornets (18-2-1) will be the District XI Tournament, which gets underway on Wednesday. Emmaus will be the No. 2 seed and host seventh-seeded Whitehall at 5 p.m. at Memorial Field. The two teams will be meeting for the third time this season with the Hornets winning the previous two meetings 4-0 and 6-0.
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Nazareth 3, Emmaus 1
Em – 1-0 – 1
Naz – 1-2 – 3
Scoring:
Em – Giuliana Meyer ’21
Naz – Kassidy Hartman ’33
Naz – Madison Jankowski 56′
Naz – Mia Ksiezopolski 59′ (assist Jankowski)
Stats
SOG – Em 3, Naz 6
Saves – Em (Zoe Reppert 3), Naz (Rylie Repsher 2)
Corners – Em 3, Naz 7