The Emmaus boys lacrosse team was entering a tough stretch in their 2016 schedule in which they played three games in three days and four in five. The Green Hornets looked tired against rival Parkland under the lights at Parkland High School last Wednesday night.

The Trojans took an 8-5 lead into halftime, and held on for a 13-8 victory, holding Emmaus goalless in the fourth quarter. It was the Green Hornets’ second loss in the last three games.

“It’s disappointing with the effort that we put out,” said Hornet head coach Scott Ketcham. “We’re making some major lacrosse mistakes in the game that we need to fix. The season got really late, really quick, and we need to answer these questions quickly on defense.

“Offensively, we’re fine, but we left [goalie] Kevin McGee out to dry too often tonight.

“I know we’re going to be able to right the ship. We always do, and this year won’t be any different.”

It was a game of runs, as it seems to be during the high school lacrosse season.

Parkland (9-3 overall, 8-1 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference) jumped out to a four-goal cushion early in the first quarter.

Emmaus (9-3 overall, 6-3 EPC) scored the next three to trail by just one after one.

“We had a defensive game plan coming in, but it wasn’t followed,” said Ketcham. “We legitimately didn’t have the ball for six minutes, because we didn’t win draws or win any groundballs.

“We’re just not doing the little things you need to do to win. But give Parkland credit. This is a team that we completely underestimated, and they’ve done a nice job all season so far of just winning games.”

The teams traded goals the next two quarters, and the Green Hornets deficit was three at 11-8 heading into the final quarter. But then the Trojans found another gear and held Emmaus scoreless, and added two of their own to put the game away.

Konnor Haldeman, Collin Tucker, and Gabe Kozel all had two goals. Hunter Krauss and Collin Mason also had goals for the Green Hornets. Krauss (2), Haldeman, Tucker, Adam Conway, and Tyler Corpora contributed assists. Kevin McGee made seven saves.

“It will get better,” said Ketcham. “It has in the past and I’m sure it will again. We just need to find ourselves and work our game plan.”

Emmaus finished last week with wins over Liberty and Lower Merion. The Green Hornets finish the week with games on Thursday at Bethlehem Catholic and Friday night home to Southern Lehigh.