Three games into the 2016 season, the Emmaus boys lacrosse team was undefeated at 3-0. But Eastern Pennsylvania Conference rival Central Catholic had something to say about that.

The Vikings stormed out to a 4-0 lead, and never trailed as they took down Emmaus 12-9 last Thursday night at Emmaus High School’s Memorial Field.

Colton Thew fired a shot past Kevin McGee just a minute and 45 seconds in, and that was followed by three more Central goals before the Green Hornets ever got on the board. The Vikings, who had not beaten Emmaus since 2013, came ready to play from the opening whistle.

“We let them play fast,” said Ketcham. “We turned the ball over in the clear too many times and they were able to scoop them up and take advantage. That’s not what we do. I think we let the big game moment get to us. We have some younger guys, but that’s no excuse. You have to step up when we need you to.

“Give them credit though. They came in with a great game plan and really executed it well. They started off fast and we just weren’t able to adjust to it.”

It looked as if the Green Hornets (3-1 overall, 2-1 EPC) were stunned early on and didn’t know how to react to being down by multiple goals. Senior Collin Mason (5 goals) eased some pressure with the team’s first goal late in the opening quarter.

But Central (4-1 overall, 3-1 EPC) kept after it, adding two more in the second quarter and holding a four goal advantage, 6-2, at halftime.

The Vikings featured a balanced attack with seven different players finding the back of the net. Tom Murphy led the way with a hat trick, while three other players - Thew, Joe Wolf and Zack Nelson each added two goals apiece.

But Central’s lead diminished thanks to Konnor Haldeman. The junior scored three consecutive goals to start the third quarter, and Mason added two more to put the score at 8-7 heading into the fourth.

“He’s been doing a great job for us all year,” said Ketcham. “It seems like he’s scoring three or four goals for us every time we go out. He’s become a very good finisher, doing it with his right hand and left hand. It’s a great story because he’s worked so hard over the years. He had a good night tonight.”

But Emmaus could not get any closer the rest of the way. The Vikings tallied four of the next five goals and hung on for the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference victory.

“Unfortunately here we’ve never had a perfect season, and tonight shot that down,” Ketcham noted. “We just have to bounce back, and bounce back quick. We’re going down to Ocean City, New Jersey, this weekend to play against a Division I goalie. We’ll see what we’re made of.”

Junior Tyler Corpora had the other Green Hornets goal. Collin Tucker contributed three assists, and Gabe Kozel, Blake Speicher and Jared Baker all had an assist.