With the exception of the penalty kick phase of Emmaus’ 1-0 win over Central Catholic in the opening round of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference playoffs, the Hornets have gone over 180 minutes without putting the ball in the net. While soccer may be a low-scoring type of game, at some point, you have to score goals to win.

Emmaus (17-2-1) was bounced from the conference playoffs in the semifinals when it lost to Parkland 2-0 at J. Birney Crum Stadium.

“We looked a little tired out there and we haven’t scored a goal in a while and it came back to get us,” said Emmaus head coach John Cari.

Parkland’s Ben Jago was a good 30 yards out when he fired a shot that made it past goalkeeper Sam Cho to give the Trojans a 1-0 lead with 17:40 left to play in the first half. The score remained tied, but things became a little contentious, not so much between the players, but between both coaches and the referees.

With just under 13 minutes left to play, Parkland coach Patrick Birns asked the referee for an explanation of a penalty that was called. As the conversation continued, Birns was given a yellow card. As Birns walked away, he continued to plead his case and was given a red card, meaning he was ejected from the game and was also suspended for the EPC finals.

Perhaps the excitement of the situation spurred on the Trojans, who got a second goal from Conley Hochstetler with 11:54 to play, giving Parkland some breathing room.

Cari didn’t completely blame fatigue Emmauss struggles to score goals lately, but he is among a growing number of coaches who believe that the season either has too many games or simply doesn’t run long enough to fit all of the games in comfortably.

“It’s hard, especially when they added on the eight-team playoff, it just condensed things a little bit more,” said Cari. “It’s out of my hands and I can’t worry about that. I just play the games that I have to, but this will give us the opportunity to rest and refocus on what we have to do.”

Actually, the game was high-scoring compared to the two regular season games between the two teams, the first of which ended in a scoreless draw and the second was a 1-0 Emmaus victory. Parkland went on to win the EPC championship with a 3-2 win over Pocono Mountain East, while Emmaus shifted its focus to the District 11 Class AAA playoffs, which begin this week.

“That was a tough game, no matter what,” said Cari. “It will just give us a little time to refocus and we’ll get real good time in to train. We want to win every time out there and we wanted to win a league title, but we’re hoping that we’ll be able to recover and come back in districts.”

Emmaus is off until Saturday when it hosts the winner of the first-round match between seventh-seeded Pleasant Valley and 10th-seeded Whitehall. The time off is a welcome commodity that Cari believes will rejuvenate his team.

“I think that it can give us a lot, I really do,” said Cari. “All that happens is we drop down to a number-two seed and that will give us a little time to recover, mentally check out and then check right back in. I’m okay with that.”