The Emmaus boys soccer team is going through goalies at a scary pace.

First, Dylan Sosnow went down with a thumb injury before Emmaus’ game against Nazareth. Then, his replacement, Sam Cho went down with an injury in a 3-2 win over Whitehall Monday night.

Sosnow was spectacular throughout the season, but hurt his thumb in warm-ups and had to have two screws inserted.

Even though the injury was pretty serious, the Hornets are hopeful that he can return for the postseason. Cho picked up right where Sosnow left off, stepping in and playing well, including picking up his first career shutout in a 1-0 win over Parkland.

“I couldn’t believe the misfortune,” said Emmaus head coach John Cari. “He wasn’t even in the game. It was just in warm-ups and he had to have two screws put in his thumb.

“How great is it that Sam gets the first shutout of his career against Parkland? That’s fantastic. He did a good job and we know he’s capable of making some big saves.”

The game was once again used as a fundraising tool for the Red Card for Cancer Organization. The two teams have been uniting for that cause in all of their regular season meetings over the last few years and have raised over $1,000.

FreySmiles Orthodontics has been a major sponsor of the Red Card for Cancer games and a supporter of local soccer.

Parkland and Emmaus played through two overtimes in their first meeting and ended in a scoreless tie. It looked like their second meeting was destined for the same finish. The two teams were scoreless through the first 73-minutes of play, until Stephen Groh scored on what wasn’t exactly a routine goal, with 6:57 left to play.

Parkland goalkeeper Jacob Varrato came out of the goal to make a play, but the ball wound up hitting one of his teammates and going to Groh, who floated the ball over Varrato, who nearly caught up. The ball just go off his hands and into the net.

“It wasn’t the prettiest goal, but it went in and it counted,” said Groh with a laugh. “The build-up wasn’t the best. It just came off of a Parkland player’s shin and I just put it over the goalie from 30 feet out. It was ugly, but it counted and we won.”

“To read the situation,” said Cari, “that the goalkeeper is out and the defense is kind of crossed up a little bit, that’s big that he was able to do that. The good teams win even when they’re not their best and I’m happy about that.”

The win clinched the Skyline Division for Emmaus, its 11th straight division title, which coincides with Cari’s first season as the team’s coach. Emmaus will open the EPC Playoffs at home Saturday.

“It’s a good win and I’m happy for my seniors to get a win here this late in the season and against Parkland,” said Cari. “It’s a great win. I’m happy for my players that they’re able to accomplish that.

“We do know a lot of those guys and Patrick [Parkland coach Patrick Birns] coached here with me for two years. Our relationships are good and it’s a good rivalry. Each team wants to win, but it’s not like there’s bad blood between us. It’s a good rivalry.”

For Groh, he was happy that his team was finally able to score against Parkland and come away with a win. After their first scoreless tie and another game that looked headed for overtime after a scoreless regulation, both sides just kept looking for that elusive goal.

“It doesn’t get frustrating, but both defenses are really good and it’s hard to get goals,” said Groh. “Especially with [Parkland defender] Jake Stengel in the back, creating opportunities is harder. We didn’t play our best today, I thought, and we expected to be able to create more, but we pulled it out and got the win.”

“I thought we were going to overtime,” said Cari. “And I didn’t know if we were going to find one or they were going to find one, so I’m glad to get the result. That’s the good news.”