Finding offense hasn’t been easy for the Emmaus boys soccer team this season. Through their first four games, the Horents have scored a total of four goals.

The good news is that they’ve allowed just four goals, resulting in a 1-1-2 overall record and a 1-0-1 standing in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.

It hasn’t helped that seniors Noah Bacon and Stephen Groh have been sidelined by injuries. In a 2-2 tie with Downingtown West, Emmaus got another scare when Kacper Grycel went down with an apparent injury, but was able to return to the game and didn’t show any lingering effects.

“We’re not generating enough, is what it is,” said coach John Cari after the tie with Downingtown. “It’s just one-pass, two-pass, connection broken. It’s just been harder. We did change formation and found a little more offense. It wasn’t great, but there was a little more.

“I think you’ll see it change over the next week when we have Stephen [Groh] coming back and we have Noah [Bacon] coming back, that will help us in a lot of ways.”

The game with Downingtown was played in extreme heat and humidity, causing stoppages midway through both halves to allow players to stay hydrated and relax for a few minutes.

“I played everybody except the two back-up goalies,” said Cari. “I put 27 kids on the field today just to keep it going.

“We got a result out of it. I’m proud of that. I thought we responded in the second half, because I was really not pleased with the first half. It was hard-fought and we’ll leave it at that and move forward.”

Trailing 2-1 at the half, Cari wasn’t happy with his team’s effort through the first 40-minutes of the game and let them know that during the break. They responded with stronger play in the second half and were able to come away with at least a tie in a difficult nonconference game.

“We simply told them ‘it’s not good enough,’” said Cari of his halftime talk. “You can’t rest upon your laurels or what’s across your chest, absolutely not.

“We’ve worked hard for this and just because you wear a certain name doesn’t mean you’re entitled to anything. You’ve got to put the effort forth in everything that you do.

“I’m OK if we drop a game and we busted our butt, but when the effort’s not there, that’s what disappoints me and I’m glad they responded in a positive way.”

Against Downingtown, Grycel scored with 6:58 left in the first half to tie the game, but less than two minutes later, Stash Jaran came back for Downingtown and scored on a penalty shot to put the Whippets up 2-1.

Just under nine minutes into the second half, Dakota Bauer hit James Haag with a perfect pass that Haag headed into the net, tying the game. Neither team scored over the remaining 31 minutes.

While Cari is excited to get two key players back this week, he cautions that simply getting them back isn’t going to cure the offensive problems.

He’s letting his team know that while it will be a better team with the two seniors healthy, there still has to be a consistent effort team-wide.

“Nothing’s guaranteed and Noah hasn’t played all season, so there’s going to be a lot of moving around again and it’s almost like starting over next week because guys have to get used to each other again,” said Cari “So it’s going to be great to get them back, but again, it’s going to take some time.”

The schedule over the next week features games at Nazareth (1-2, 1-3) and East Stroudsburg North (0-3, 0-2), with a home game against Central Catholic (1-0, 2-0) squeezed in between.