Freedom’s boys and girls lacrosse teams have impressed early on this season and the Pates look to keep rolling this week.

The boys team is off to a 6-2 start heading into a week with three matchups on the slate, with none bigger than Thursday’s affair with an undefeated Emmaus (7-0) squad.

Head coach Tony Fabrizio hopes their recent 10-8 loss to Saucon Valley last week can serve as a wake-up call to the team.

“We’ve had some ups and downs so far,” he said. “Our record of 6-2 is one of the best starts we’ve had at Freedom, but we let one slip away against Saucon Valley. We got out worked. We’re hoping that loss will spark a flame under us going into the next couple of weeks against hard opponents. We’ve showed some really great moments by beating Nazareth then Southern Lehigh (first win against them in program history).

Freedom took on Northampton (0-6) on Tuesday and close out the week against Liberty (0-5) on Saturday, but their contest with Emmaus will prove as a litmus test.

“We need to be able to deal with success,” Fabrizio said. “It’s something new for our program so we need to be able to know that when we play, we are a pretty good team. We just can’t come out and expect to win. We need to be consistent with our play.

“We’ve learned a lot so far about this group of boys. They’re tough. We played six games in eight days and they didn’t give up even if we didn’t play the best. We also have had our goalkeeper Ryan Hathaway step up in games and be the deciding factor. I’m a bit biased but I think he is one of the best, if not the best, in our area.”

The Freedom girls are off to an undefeated 6-0 start and have the same road this week as the boys. They too will have a major test against Emmaus (9-0) on Thursday in a matchup between two of the top teams in the area.

As far as the other Bethlehem teams go, Liberty and Bethlehem Catholic’s girls teams were both 0-7 coming into the week. The Hurricanes won’t have an easy week either, as they have Emmaus, Moravian and Freedom. Becahi faces Parkland and Nazareth, as they’ve struggled to be competitive this season, registering only three goals in their inaugural varsity season.

The Liberty boys (0-6) and Becahi boys (1-6) have struggled as well, as they come into the week with the same matchups as the girls teams this week.