Over the first 45 minutes of last week's Eastern Pennsylvanie field hockey championship game, both teams had some scoring chances, but neither could capitalize.

Finally, with 12:03 left in the game, Stroudsburg's Jennifer Bukowski sent a shot from the top of the circle that bounced through Emmaus' defense and got past keeper Tori Laczo for the game's only goal.

The win gives the Mountaineers the league's first title trophy and keeps the Hornets without a league title for the first season since 2003.

"They snuck one in and we weren't able to tonight," said Emmaus head coach Sue-Butz-Stavin. "Kudos to them. There's a lot more of the season yet to come. We have to polish some things up and make us a better team coming to districts."

Emmaus outshot Stroudsburg 8-5 and had eight penalty corners to the Mounties' six. But the Hornets' shots couldn't find the goal. Stroudsburg keeper Taylor Ross made all eight saves. Stoudsburg's defense was on the ball quickly and did its best to keep Emmaus from getting organized offensively.

"They're a very athletic team and they're athleticism showed," said Butz-Stavin. "They did a good job of killing the play whether it was at midfield or in the attack circle. We just didn't capitalize on penalty corners and that could have made the difference. We had a couple close opportunities."

The loss was the first of the season for the Hornets (17-1-1), who go on to this week's District 11 tournament as the No. 2 seed. They will play Saturday at 3:30 against the winner of Thursday's No. 10 Allen-No. 7 Pocono Mountain East game.

If Emmaus gets through that game and a semifinal match up that would likely feature No. 3 Easton, it could earn the Hornets another shot at Stroudsburg, which must get through either Northampton or Parkland on its way to the district title game.

The Hornets have won the past 38 district titles, including that one in 2003 when they failed to capture the Lehigh Valley Conference crown. With last week's loss fresh on their mind, they'll head into districts with something to prove.

"I hope so," said Butz-Stavin. "You hope that you learn from adversity and you work through it. We didn't play an awful game. But you can always look to areas for improvement. They played hard."