Success isn’t something that anyone within the Emmaus field hockey program takes for granted.

It’s always earned, never given.

The Hornets took Easton’s best shot in the District 11 Class 3A final.

Undefeated Emmaus delivered a championship-caliber response, erasing an early deficit to record its 34th straight district title with an 8-3 victory over the Rovers.

Jocelyn Morgan gave Easton a 1-0 lead a little over two minutes into last Thursday’s contest, but the top-seeded Hornets answered with four unanswered goals to take a 4-1 lead into the intermission.

“The girls work hard, and I think every day they put the time in, they work hard at practice, and it shows on the field,” said Emmaus head coach Sue Butz-Stavin. “And of course sometimes you don’t play a perfect game, but Easton capitalized on our mistakes tonight. They scored. They got some great goals, but we got some great goals, and it was a great competition and it was healthy competition, too.”

The Hornets (23-0) broke through with two goals in the final minute of the first quarter on goals by Melea Weber and Rachel Herbine to make it 2-1.

Abby Burnett scored within the first two minutes of the second quarter after a corner to make it a two-goal lead before Herbine added another score to push the lead to 4-1, which is where it stayed at the end of the first half.

“We always hope that time never runs out, and that goal came early on in the first quarter, and we were able to tie it and quickly get another goal right away on the doorstep (of the end of the quarter),” said Butz-Stavin. “And I think we started to get things together. We found some harmony up front, and defensively, moving the ball. But we had to contend with Easton’s speed. They’ve got a lot of speed on that team, which is different from a lot of other teams. Usually you’ll have one or two kids with a lot of speed, but they have quite a lot.

“We persevered. I’m proud of how they handled themselves on the field, and we will continue to work.”

After Weber added her second goal of the game to make it 5-1 early in the third quarter, Morgan struck again to cut the second-seeded Rovers’ deficit to 5-2 with 10:50 to play in the period.

Senior Ava Zerfass answered for Emmaus to make it 6-2 with 9:08 to play in the third.

“Things happen, not everything is going to be perfect during the game, so it’s really about who can reassess and find out what needs to be fixed and be able to show that on the field,” said Zerfass.

Zerfass struck again early in the fourth quarter for her second goal of the game to make it 7-2. Herbine recorded a hat trick with her 48th goal of the season to make it 8-2.

“We put a lot of trust in each other,” said Herbine. “We all have our specific roles on the field and we all put a lot of trust in that each and every one of us are going to do our specific roles, and we play off of each other with that, and that just helps us a lot.”

Morgan scored her third goal of the game for Easton in the fourth quarter after Herbine and Zerfass found the back of the cage.

The Hornets finished with 25 shots on goal.

“My defense did an amazing job,” said Rovers’ coach Casey Eck. “The amount of shots they had coming in ... we just couldn’t transition it back out successfully, and that’s hard when you’re passing it right back to them, and then they’re coming right back at you. That’s exhausting. And so we needed to do a better job of getting the ball out of our defensive end, and we couldn’t for a good chunk of time.”

Weber finished with four assists for the Hornets, while Burnett assisted on two goals and Haley Kvacky added one assist.

Emmaus has been tested this season in several tough contests. In addition to District 11 competition, the Hornets also topped Oak Knoll (New Jersey) 4-2 on Oct. 1 and came up with a 3-2 overtime win against Gwynedd Mercy Academy on Oct. 4

They are performances that have further prepared an already battle-tested group, one that will now look to continue its run in the state playoffs.

“Every game that we have in season we just appreciate so much, especially playing the tougher teams,” said Zerfass. “We’re so grateful to be able to play them, because in the end, it is making us better and preparing us for the postseason.

“We just have to take it one game at a time, not looking at the end. We have to play how we play, and focusing on the things that we have to work on is really going to be important, and just digging deep and finding our play. But I’m just so proud of my teammates. They all came out really strong tonight and I couldn’t be happier to win with them.”