In back-to-back games, the Emmaus girls soccer team has come away with ties against good teams.

First, there was a scoreless tie with Central Catholic (8-3-1 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, 10-3-1 overall), followed by a 1-1 tie with Nazareth (8-2-2, 9-3-2) on Saturday. In their last seven games, Emmaus has gone 3-2-2, putting the Hornets in the discussion for a strong enough push to make districts.

The young Emmaus team has had some trouble cracking defenses of the better teams in the league to score goals, but the team is showing progress and has scored goals in bunches against lesser teams.

“We’ve created so many opportunities throughout the season and just haven’t been able to put it away,” said first-year head coach Sarah Oswald. “That’s one of the big things that we’ve been working with the girls on: to be able to finish goals.

“Maddie [Fey] pressed the goalkeeper and created some chaos in the box and Reilly [McGinnis] was able to finish it and that’s exactly what we’ve talked about the past couple of weeks.

“I think it shows a lot of growth and maturity and heart from our kids and that’s something that we haven’t really seen throughout this entire season. They’re growing and they’re doing what we’re asking them to do and it paid off today [against Nazareth].”

One constant has been the high level of play from sophomore goalkeeper Jess Harnett, who has come up with key saves to stave off opponents game after game. Her performance against Nazareth was another impressive one that allowed her team to keep their confidence high and come from behind to tie the game on a goal by Reilly McGinnis with just 18 seconds left to play.

“Jess [Harnett] came up big and that’s what we expect,” said Oswald. “We expect our goalies to make the saves that they’re supposed to and one or two big saves that keep us in the game. She kept us in the game and we were able to come back and tie it 1-1.”

Harnett attributes her success to hard work and good teammates.

“I worked really hard in preseason and I can’t do it without my backs,” she said. “They’re the ones who are keeping the ball away from me so I don’t have to save as many shots. They know how to control the back really well.”

The defense has been important for Emmaus this season and Oswald points out that itsbeen able to frustrate some pretty good players on the other team, especially lately.

“Nazareth is a good team and they have two really quality forwards that put a lot of pressure on our defenders and I think that we handled them well,” said Oswald. “Good forwards are going to get their chances and I think we held them to a limited number of chances and that was exactly what we asked of them.”

Fey, a freshman, has joined the team from the JV squad and has added an extra dimension to the offense for Emmaus. McGinnis gave credit to Fey for opening up a shot for her to tie the game and Oswald likes the physical style of play that Fey brings.

“Maddie brings a lot of pace, a lot of work rate that Peyton doesn’t necessarily bring as far as pace goes,” said Oswald. “Their pace is a little different; Peyton works a little bit smarter, because she is a veteran player and a three-year varsity starter for us. Maddie brings a lot of work rate and puts herself in position to press the goalkeeper and Reilly got the goal, but it starts with the work rate that generated the goal.”

The Hornets are going to have added pressure on them over the season’s final four games. The team needs to win three of its last four to qualify for districts and they have to do it without senior forward Peyton Ritter, who could be lost for the rest of the season with an ankle injury.

“With Peyton out, it allows for other players to step up in this big situation where we need to be able to get goals and beat quality teams,” Oswald said. “It’s unfortunate to lose Peyton, but the kids have had to deal with losing other players and the kids have regrouped and regained confidence and other players have stepped up, so we’re just looking at one more player to step up and fill that role and help the team on the field.”