Chad Lawrence found himself open in front of the net and easily scored to give the Emmaus ice hockey team a 3-0 lead with 1:46 left in the second period.

But a Southern Lehigh/Liberty goal less than a minute later, and two others in the final period left the Green Hornets with a 3-3 tie last Monday night at the Bethlehem Steel Ice Center against the non-pure division opponent.

"We came into the game with a plan that I think we executed well in the first two periods," said Emmaus head coach Jon Hagen. "It seemed like we laid down a little bit in the third period. They just outworked us in that period. We stopped winning the battles for the pucks We allowed them to come back, and the momentum swung their way."

Emmaus dominated the first two periods, out-shooting the Spartans 22-7 and holding possession on the offensive third of the ice.

David Bailey scored the opening goal off a faceoff and pass from defenseman Nico Martel.

It took the Green Hornets a while to find the back of the net, with Bailey's goal coming on the eighth shot on goal. On the Hornets' next shot Jeremy Hoffer stole the puck inside the blue line and put a move on a defenseman. He slid a shot passed Andrew Seidel for the second goal of the opening period.

Just as Lawrence added to a 3-0 lead for Emmaus (3-3-1), Southern Lehigh/Liberty began to find life.

A turnover in the Green Hornets zone led to a quick goal by Adrian Reitars with just seven seconds left in the second period. From there, the Spartans carried the momentum.

It only took 12 seconds for the next goal. Brendon Gertz had his first shot blocked away by Michael Smoker (13 saves), but ripped home the second attempt. A little over a minute later, Bobby Fenza had a shot hit off a skate and slip past Smoker to tie the game.

Emmaus had chances later in the period, but just couldn't put one passed Seidel for the late winner.

The Green Hornets are now 3-3-1 in the young season, but have been in a lot of the games. There are some things that they will be able to work on to continue to get better.

"We need to work hard at practice now," said Hagen. "We have some things that we're working on and I'm not sure why it's not gelling yet, but we'll work hard at practice. We have a fairly simple system so we'll just keep working at it."