When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Well, the going was pretty tough for the Lady Hornets in their season-finale against Central Catholic (8-7-1 EPC, 10-7-1 overall). They trailed 2-0 at the half and needed the win to qualify for districts. Otherwise, their season was over. That’s when Reilly McGinnis got going. The junior scored twice in the second half, one of those goals came off a header, to bring her team back to a 2-2 tie at the end of regulation.

“No one gave up and I had a great ball from Maddie Fey for my header and then, Sarah Schuster was pressuring on the outside and I just got a free kick,” said McGinnis. “Then, Colleen Hanvey had that amazing goal at the end. No one wanted to lose that game. No one wanted the season to end.”

That amazing shot that McGinnis referred to came in the second overtime and gave Emmaus a 3-2 win that locked up a spot in the District 11 Class AAA playoffs, which begin next week.

The goal was Hanvey’s first since her freshman season and came on a left-footed kick off a corner pass. Hanvey appeared to have the entire far side of the net open, but was able to squeeze the ball just inside the near post for the game-winner.

“I knew we had to score because we were running out of time,” When we got the corner, I knew it would just be the perfect opportunity and I just went in and shot. It feels amazing. I’m just glad that we get a postseason now.”

“We’ve been looking for that one kid to step up and say ‘I’m going to carry you on my back,’” said Emmaus’ first-year head coach Sarah Oswald. “We’ve had glimpses of it from players and Reilly is kind of the one that the coaching staff looked at and said ‘we need you to do this.’ Tonight, she just came out and took it upon herself and scored big goals and put herself in good positions, but the other players around her also helped those. It wasn’t a single-handed effort by her.

“Every kid stepped up their effort in the second half and came out like they wanted to win this game. When you do that, when you pick up the energy and the intensity, good things happen.”

The odds of Emmaus (7-7-2, 7-9-2) downing Central Catholic didn’t look good coming into the game because of a rash of injuries that have hit the team. Three of the four seniors are out with injuries and other players are also missing time because of various injuries. When the Vikettes took a 2-0 lead by halftime, the odds seemed to get much longer, but Oswald reminded the team that it is better than what it showed in the first half.

“She just reminded us that we worked so hard this season and that we didn’t want to go out like this,” said Hanvey. “We knew that we could win and once Reilly scored the two goals, we just kept working hard.”

“This team has been through the most crazy season I’ve ever been a part of, both emotionally and physically,” said McGinnis after the game. “We’ve been on the bad side of three or four games. We have three of our four seniors out with injuries and we needed someone to step up and turn that 2-0 first half into something.”

While Emmaus qualified for districts, it missed the EPC playoffs and will have had about 10 days off by the time it opens in districts on Monday. Oswald believes that this was exactly the type of game that her team needed to help boost her young players confidence, but also send a message to other teams that the Lady Hornets aren’t going to go quietly.

“We’ve been saying all season, there’s going to be one game that will turn us around; this is it,” said Oswald. “This gives us a chance to show what we have in the district playoffs and we have a week and a half to prepare and go at the first team we face. We know it’s going to be a high-seeded team. We know they’re going to be good, but we gained some confidence tonight and I think we’re going to be ready to go for that district game.”