It was a bit of a layoff, 10 days actually, since the Hornets’ last game, but the Emmaus High School boys soccer team did not miss a beat in its district playoff opener last week.

Teddy Coenen and Elijah Miller each found the back of the net and the Green Hornet defense earned a shutout as Emmaus defeated East Stroudsburg South 2-0 last Thursday night in a District 11 4A quarterfinal round game at Emmaus High School.

“I’m very pleased with the outcome tonight and how we played,” said head coach John Cari. “After being off for 10 days in a row, I wasn’t sure how we’d play. We dictated the flow. I thought we were hungry, aggressive and we really pushed it offensively. We weren’t stale at all, we came out hard. I thought the effort was great on both sides of the field and it’s a good momentum shifter heading into the semifinals.”

The victory was also a special one for Cari as the head man won his 300th game in his career.

“It comes down to I’ve had plenty of talented players to coach and great assistants that help me,” said Cari. “It’s really a team effort. Without all of them I’m just one piece to the puzzle. It’s nice to get credit for it, but there’s so many other people that deserve some praise too.”

Coenen netted the opener in the first half and Miller doubled up the advantage in the second half. The Emmaus defense, led by goalie Max McGrath, who finished with four saves, held firm all night.

“I thought they were in control and commanded things back there all night,” Cari said. “They played together as one. They won 50-50 balls and made some great tackles on the ball. Max was composed back there and didn’t really get into too much trouble, but made four great saves. It feels great being able to post a shutout.”

Even after a long break since its last game in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference quarterfinals, the Green Hornets followed their game plan.

“We worked long and hard on working as 11 as one,” said Cari. “We want to attack with numbers and I thought we did a good job of that. Our bench was wonderful tonight. Both goals came from guys that didn’t start but they answered when their names were called. The energy was high from the guys.”

Next up is Northampton in the semifinals, a team that Emmaus lost to during the regular season.

“It’s going to take a couple of good days of practice to get ready for them,” Cari said. “I think there’s also a little bit of a revenge factor in that we want to return the favor from when they beat us during the season. I think we’ll be hungry for this one. We’re going to continue to work on being the best versions of ourselves.”