The Emmaus boys soccer lost nearly a dozen seniors from the team that won the District 11 championship last season. Four of the seniors were among the top five scorers on the team and between those players, the Hornets are losing 29 goals and 16 assists. The defense is not untouched either with goaltender Ty Bleiler (52 saves in 2021) and defenders John Hanvey and Jaeden Amato all graduating.

Those players led Emmaus to the semifinals of the EPC playoffs where they lost to Parkland 1-0 before downing the Trojans 3-1 to win the District 11 championship. In states, Abington and Emmaus played to a tie in regulation and the Hornets fell 2-1 in overtime.

“We did lose a lot of key players but fortunately, we have a lot of young players who got time on the field last season and played really well and will be able to help us this season,” said coach John Cari.

As a sophomore, Ryan Kiernan led the team in goals with 14 and added four assists to lead the team in scoring with 32 points. Kiernan will be counted on to continue the offense in his junior season with Bryan Flor (12 goals) and Amato (9 goals) both having moved on. Also returning are rising seniors Alvin Delgado, Ryan Latchford, and Blaise Verrastro, who all played in at least 23 of Emmaus’ games last season. Adam Grigoruk, and Eli Pennell will join Kiernan as juniors on the roster.

“Ryan (Kiernan) did a really good job for us last season and we think he is going to be even better this season,” Cari said. “The key is finding other guys to step up so that teams can’t just key on him. We do have a lot of guys that we think can step up for us to take pressure off Ryan.”

Amato was one of the best defensive players in the EPC last season and his loss is going to be felt. Just as on offense, the Hornets have a rising senior ready to take on the majority of the workload and leadership in the backfield in Delgado. They also have a quality refill in the goal with senior Max McGrath, who played in six games and made six saves last season for Emmaus.

Even with all of the losses and the rather large target that will be on the Hornets, they are still the team to beat in the EPC and figure to make a run at successfully defending their district title.

“We have been fortunate that our program continues to find good players and that they can go through the youth programs and JV and help us at the varsity level,” said Cari. “It’s always a challenge because there are so many good programs in the area and on most nights, you’re going to face a team that is capable of beating you.”