There is nothing like a classic rivalry game to wrap up the regular season. Emmaus and Parkland met in part two of their Battle of Cedar Crest Boulevard last week with both teams headed for the playoffs.
As usual, it was a game that stayed close throughout and ended with a 1-0 Parkland victory. Emmaus finished the regular season with a 10-6-0 mark overall and a record of 10-4-0 in the East Penn Conference. Meanwhile, Parkland went 13-2-1 (12-1-1) on the season.
The Lady Trojans came out being the aggressors and got an early corner looking to strike first. Emmaus was able to defend the corner opportunity and came away unscathed. They also wouldn’t allow another corner for the rest of the half. Parkland used crisp passing and maintained its aggressiveness, but Emmaus’ defense was able to keep the Trojans from putting themselves on the scoreboard.
Hornet goalkeeper Molly Lineberger withstood any challenges she was given, and Parkland seemed to get a little frustrated that their efforts hadn’t paid any dividends.
Meanwhile, Emmaus struggled to connect on passes as it drew closer to the goal. Just as the Lady Trojans were the aggressor on offense, they carried that over to defense and kept the Lady Hornets from getting much pressure on goalkeeper Kayla McNevin.
“Generating any sort of offense was an issue,” said coach Sarah Oswald. “Our defense was under pressure for 80 minutes of that game. We just weren’t able to keep anything in the midfield. We need to do a better job in the midfield to settle the ball down, gain possession and make a good choice with the ball.”
Parkland again picked up an early corner to open the second half with Madison Bowman sending the kick near the mouth of the goal where Catherine Crampton found it and headed it past Lineberger to break the scoreless tie.
Emmaus again struggled with passing and were unable to generate much offense but continued to play well defensively. Emmaus seemed to start to settle down its attack and put together some opportunities later in the game.
With 13:42 left, Paige Inman headed a shot toward the goal off a corner, but was unable to get it past Sophie Frank, who took over in goal for the Lady Trojans in the second half. Minutes later, Parkland had a direct kick that went just over the crossbar and fell harmlessly behind the net.
“Every game is a learning experience, whether there’s an opportunity for us to be on the winning end of the scoreboard or on the losing side,” said Oswald. “There’s always something that we can learn from and build on and gain in our focus. We’ve talked about being mentally tough. We have the physical attributes, we have the ideas, but sometimes we’re just not mentally in the games.”
With some time off between the loss to Parkland and the opening round of the EPC playoffs, Emmaus had some time to work on some things and prepare to meet Central Catholic, who they had beaten just a week earlier in the regular season. The two foes played a pair of one-goal games in the regular season, with Central Catholic winning the first and Emmaus taking the late season match between the two teams.
Maddi Woodward scored two goals for the Lady Hornets, both coming on penalty kicks, as Emmaus downed the Vikettes 2-1 to advance to the EPC semifinals where they will again meet Parkland. This meeting will be at a neutral site, which has not yet been determined. Parkland won both regular season meetings with the Lady Hornets, with both games ending with a 1-0 score. The teams have a history of meeting in the postseason, with Parkland winning the last meeting in the EPC finals by a 2-1 score in 2019.