It has been a decade since the Emmaus High School girls lacrosse team has won a championship of any kind. In 2011, the Hornets won the District 11 title. This year, not only will they have a chance at that once again in a couple of weeks, but the Green Hornets are one win away from winning the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship.

The number two seed, Emmaus (17-1 overall) came from behind midway through the first half to defeat third-seeded Freedom 11-6 Monday evening in an EPC semifinal round game at Emmaus High School.

The Green Hornets will go for gold against top-seeded Easton on Thursday evening in the EPC championship game. The undefeated Red Rovers (13-0) beat Pleasant Valley 18-8 in Monday’s other semifinal matchup.

Emmaus played for an EPC crown in 2016, but came out on the wrong end. Head coach Roxann Betz hopes for a different outcome in her first go-round coaching for a title.

“It would be huge,” said Betz. “It would be the first win for any of us. It’s the first championship that any of these girls have played in and this is what our goal has been all season long. We’ve gotten to that point, we just have to finish strong.”

Emmaus trailed the Patriots 4-3 with a little over 10 minutes left in the opening half, but the Hornets answered with five straight goals, three to end the half and two to open the second half, and never trailed again the rest of the way.

Emily Hollinger and Julia Cote both finished with four goals. Their running mate and facilitator, Ally Shaffer, contributed three assists, including her school-record 50th of the year.

“It’s so much fun playing with Ally,” said Hollinger. “She always knows how to find the open pass and the open girl. She’s so smart with it, she holds it when she needs to, but she has a great eye. She always knows how to hit the right girl at the right time.”

Senior Rebekah Brosky and junior Mikayla Viola also scored goals for Emmaus.

Caitlin Donello and Paige Telatovich each had a pair of goals for Freedom, as they now await next week’s District 11 tournament.

On the boys side, Freedom (10-5) missed out on the league playoffs and are prepping for the district tournament.