The Emmaus boys lacrosse team stared at a three-goal deficit heading into the fourth period of their non-conference game against District 3's Manheim Township last Thursday.

Despite trailing 6-3 after the Blue Streaks got a key goal with 1:15 to play in the third period, the Hornets never folded. They responded and scored two goals within the first 5:02 of the final period to make it a one-goal game, and had a number of chances at tying it in the final minute.

But each shot ended up just off the mark or being saved by the Blue Streaks as the Hornets fell to 1-2 on the year with the 6-5 defeat at Memorial Field.

"I don't know if they knew we were going to come play hard," said head coach Scott Ketcham. "And after Tuesday (an overtime loss against Nazareth), I didn't know if we were ready to. But we answered a bell really well. Credit to them they're a terrific program, and they've got a lot of skilled players. They've been a good program for a long time. We just came up a goal short today."

Marc Feldman first fired a deep shot that found the back of the net just 1:23 into the fourth period to make it a two-goal game.

Ketcham then called a timeout with 8:27 to play and the Hornets down two with possession. They connected 1:29 later on that same attack. Zack Bernhard made a move on the Blue Streaks defense and found enough space to fire a bouncing-shot into goal to make it 6-5.

"We wanted to just get a settled offensive possession because we saw some things that we wanted to go at," said Ketcham. "We called a timeout there, and we put one in right after. So it was a good use of a timeout, which is always a nice thing."

The Hornets scored first after Noah Howells found Nick Tonno for a goal with 7:47 to play in the first period to put Emmaus ahead. That's the only lead they would manage. The Blue Streaks went on to score five of the next six goals to lead early in the third period.

"Sometimes I fail to realize this, but we're a real young team as far as kids stepping up into roles," said Ketcham. "And they're starting to do that which is what you want to see. I was very pleased from that. We controlled the fourth quarter, which is what we needed to do. We had to make a comeback, [but] we just didn't make a big enough comeback."

Jacob Baker and Peter Conway also scored goals in the defeat.

The week ahead figures to be an important one for the Hornets. The Hornets will host Central Catholic on Thursday. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Memorial Field.