Sophomore Gracie Huffer wasn’t quite sure when she would be back or how physically strong she would be this season after suffering a knee injury playing for her club team during the offseason.

But hard work and training over the summer and into the preseason helped her get back in shape in time for the 2024 regular season.

That was good news for the Emmaus field hockey team as she tallied two goals and an assist and led the Hornets to a 4-1 victory over Easton last Thursday night in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship game at Whitehall High School.

It is the ninth consecutive conference title for Emmaus.

“It’s awesome,” said Huffer. “It’s often overlooked at Emmaus because we do win championships so often, but it always feels the same - it’s awesome. I just love this team and these people. The people make the place.”

Huffer put the Green Hornets (20-1 overall) in front less than five minutes into the game when she found the back of the cage off an assist from Sadie Nawarynski with 10:02 left in the opening quarter.

“It’s great for Gracie,” said head coach Sue Butz-Stavin. “She’s coming back from knee surgery that she had I think in early summer. Her process coming back to where she was last year is just starting to get to be about 90 percent. I’m very happy with her ability. She’s got good vision, good ball skills. She does her job.”

Just as the first quarter was coming to a close, a late penalty corner that was taken with no time left on the clock resulted in a penalty stroke for the Green Hornets. Autum Kernechel converted that chance and gave her team a 2-0 advantage.

The Red Rovers (16-4-1) recorded a goal midway through the second quarter as Arianna Deliso sent a delivery to junior Olivia Milia, who arched a high shot that got passed Aiko Price for the first goal allowed by Emmaus since Sept. 25 of last year.

The combo of Kernechel and Huffer combined for two goals once again in the third and fourth quarters, respectively, to cap the scoring for Emmaus. Nawarynski finished with two assists. Price had six saves in cage.

“When you get to a championship game, both teams are going to try to play their best on the field, they’re going to put it all out on the line and I think they did that,” Butz-Stavin said. “We just happened to capitalize on some golden moments. I thought that we held our positioning on the field. We moved the ball well. Our defense held up. Unfortunately, they got a crazy type of goal there, but you just have to learn how to play through those things. We responded well so I’m very pleased with that. I’m sure we’ll see them again in about two weeks.”

The Hornets reached the title game after beating Parkland 4-0 in last Tuesday’s semifinals. Nawarynski scored two goals against Parkland, while Huffer and Kernechel had one each. Morgann Orobono, Emmy Horner and Kernechel assisted on goals in the game. Emmaus outshot Parkland 15-7 in the win, although Parkland had a 9-4 advantage in corners. Price made six saves, while Avery Burnett made one defensive stop.

Emmaus will open up play in the District 11 Class 3A playoffs on Thursday night at home against the eighth seed, Liberty, the team they beat 11-0 in the first round of the league playoffs and 9-0 in a regular season meeting on Sept. 16.