The Emmaus High School boys soccer team entered this season as the reigning District 11 4A champions and winners of four of the last five district titles. The Hornets came into the district tournament this year as the top seed looking to claim another gold.

After edging the ninth seed Whitehall 3-2 in overtime in the quarterfinal round on October 23, the Hornets’ run of recent success came to an end as they were shutout by the fourth seed, Northampton, 1-0, in the semifinal round last Tuesday at Catasauqua High School’s Alumni Field.

The Kids went on to fall to Parkland in a penalty kick shootout in the championship game in their first district title game in program history.

In the semifinal, Northampton’s Brody Eisenhart scored the game’s only goal on an assist by Aaron Gutkowski late in the first half and then the Kids’ defense and starting goalie Ryan Nahf, who finished with nine saves.

Emmaus had plenty of chances on goal in both halves, but Nahf and his defense continued to come up big and keep the ball out of the back of the net.

Unlike the regular season meeting between the two teams, when Emmaus rallied from 1-0 down at halftime to win 2-1, the Konkrete Kids held onto their lead in the playoff game.

Will Peck finished with two saves in goal for Emmaus.

The Hornets saw their season end at 19-3-1 overall. They won this year’s Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship. It’s the first time in 14 seasons Emmaus didn’t play for a district title.