With a strong group of defensive players in front of her, Ashley Stine does not always have the opportunity to show off her skills in goal for the Emmaus Hornets. Stine has done her part to help Emmaus to 12 shutouts this season and allowing just eight goals in 17 games. Against Central Dauphin (11-1-1 overall), a perennially tough team from District 3, Emmaus allowed two goals, suffering a 2-0 loss to the Lady Rams.

The second goal came on a shot that hit the crossbar, bounced straight down and had just enough spin to take it into the goal as Stine dove to knock the ball out of the goal. If not for Stine’s acrobatic play earlier in the game, the contest could have been over by halftime. The sophomore keeper frustrated Central Dauphin shooters by making several strong stops.

“We work on our defense a lot and work on our set pieces a lot in practice, so we are always prepared for games like this where we are facing a team with good offense,” said Stine. “There is a good group of players in front of me and we all communicate well and that makes my job a lot easier.”

Emmaus (14-2-1 overall, 13-1-1 EPC) has a difficult schedule to wrap up their regular season with, facing the Rams in a nonconference game before their season finale against Parkland (17-0-0, 15-0-0).

Parkland and Emmaus are ranked one and two, respectively, in the district 4A standings and in the EPC standings with Allentown Central Catholic also having a 13-1-1 mark in league play.

The Hornets and Vikettes played to a scoreless tie in their meeting earlier in the season.

“I think having games against opponents like Central Dauphin and Parkland will make us better going into the playoffs,” said Stine. “We showed today (against Central Dauphin) that we can play well against really good teams and that’s what we are going to have to do in the playoffs. We put up a strong fight today against a really good team.”

Even though she is in her sophomore season, Stine believes that she has gained a lot of confidence as the season has gone on and that the players in front of her have also gained confidence and developed well.

“I think that playing as well as we did against Central Dauphin gives us even more confidence but we have been confident all season,” Stine said. “We worked hard to get ready for the season and we always come into games prepared to play. I think that we won’t be phased by having to play good teams in the playoffs. It’s especially good that we have tough games just before the playoffs, so we know what to expect.”

In other games recently, Maddi Woodward picked up two goals and Sam Kreiner and Julia Adams both added goals in a 4-0 win over Stroudsburg, while seven players scored goals in a 9-0 win over East Stroudsburg South. Adams and Kam McWhinney both scored two in that game, while Woodward, Kreiner, Ryleigh McNellis, Sammy Walkiewicz, and Ashley Geder all contributed single goals in the win.

The EPC playoffs begin Saturday with the semifinals following on Tuesday and the finals on October 22.