In September of 2018, Emmaus beat Parkland 2-1 in an early season game, snapping the Trojans 70-game District 11 winning streak.

This past Saturday, the Hornets hoped to snap Parkland’s current 23-game unbeaten streak by knocking the Trojans off in the district finals.

Parkland had different ideas. The Trojans kept the streak going with a 2-1 win over Emmaus.

Emmaus (16-6-1) wanted to hit an early goal and junior Kam McWhinney worked the plan perfectly.

McWhinney worked behind the Parkland defense, made a swift move around goalie Sophia Hallal, and got the first goal of the game in just the fifth minute of play.

Gabby Powell nearly stretched the lead to two goals minutes later when she put a shot on goal that eluded Hallal but went off the far post and back onto the field.

The one-goal lead held up until there were just 10 minutes left in regulation. The Trojans (22-0-1) were able to put pressure on goalie Ashley Stine in the second half, only to see Stine respond by making a number of impressive stops.

Parkland’s Ellie Kocher, a sophomore who is a leading part of the Trojan offense, put one shot wide and when Delaney Chilcote had an open look, Stine simply tipped it away before making a diving save on another shot by Kocher.

On two separate occasions in the game, Stine came out of the goal to challenge a charging Kocher on breakaways and both times got the better of the one-on-one confrontation.

With the clock showing just 10 minutes left in the game, Chilcote played a corner kick perfectly to senior Aristea Gougoustamos, who was able to put her shot well out of the reach of Stine to tie the game.

McWhinney had a shot go just over the crossbar and another off the post. Elizabeth Bender also had a breakaway, but Sophie Frank, who replaced Hallal in goal in the second half, was able to make a stop to keep Emmaus from tying the game.

Parkland switched its defense in an attempt to get the go-ahead goal. The change and the momentum started by Parkland’s first goal did help put more pressure on the Emmaus defense. As the clock wore down to 3:22 in regulation, Dani Marsteller put a shot on goal that Stine made a good attempt to stop, but the ball went just off her fingertips and into the back of the goal as Parkland took a 2-1 advantage.

Another defensive switch by Parkland gave the Trojans more of a defensive posture and the Hornets were unable to come up with a late goal to tie the game.

Emmaus coach Sarah Oswald was unavailable for comment following the game.

District 11 semifinal

Hornets beat Easton to get to title game

Easton (14-5-1) was intent on gaining revenge against Emmaus for last season’s loss in the semifinals and Emmaus (16-5-1) focused simply on winning and advancing to the finals for the second straight season. In the end, there was no revenge for the Red Rovers who fell to the Hornets 1-0.

Emmaus was able to put Easton goalie Avery Jordan through her paces early on. One of her acrobatic saves, Jordan landed hard and was unable to get up. After the trainer attended to her on the field, she had to leave the game only to return a short time later after being cleared to play.

Emmaus took no pity on Jordan, and Mya Cooper sent a pass to Sammy Walkiewicz who was nearly 40 yards away from the goal.

“The ball was coming from the left side, and I wanted to switch because that’s what we worked on, switching the point of attack and then Sammy [Walkiewicz] got the end of the play,” said Cooper, a senior.

Walkiewicz knew it was a long shot in more ways than one, but she made the decision to go for the goal even from the long distance.

“We catch the defense off guard a lot because the center forward stays in position in the middle and then we sprint to the end and no one sees it coming,” said Walkiewicz. “I just tried to play the ball in to my team because the sun was in my eyes, and I couldn’t see anything. I thought it was just going to drop but it dropped in the right spot, and it caught the defense off guard, and I guess it caught the goalie off guard as well.”

While that may have been the only goal of the game, there were plenty of chances for both teams.

Cooper took a pass come in from the right side of the field and headed the ball directly on goal but was saved by Jordan. For Easton, Jordan Lytwyn made a backward kick to put a shot on goal, but Emmaus goalkeeper Ashley Stine was there to make a save on the play to keep Emmaus in the driver’s season as time started to grow small in the second half of the game.

The Hornets were impossible to solve defensively and seemed to know where every ball that Easton played was going to wind up. Stine wound up having to make six saves in the game and was aided by the fact that the Red Rovers were not able to get a corner in the game.

“They’re a good team and a really good attacking team that scores a ton of goals,” said Emmaus head coach Sarah Oswald. “Our back line today did an excellent job keeping them contained and not really letting them get a ton of shots from short distances, and then when Ashley needed to, she came up big.”

“We just worked together as a team and really communicated well today,” said Cooper. “The communication was big thing that we lacked the last time we played them, and we have really been working on that.”