Remember the heat and humidity of last Friday and Saturday? Imagine playing 80 minutes of soccer on both of those days, with both games being against formidable opponents. That was the challenge that the Emmaus girls soccer team had to endure and it came out of the two games with a 1-1 record, impressing head coach Sarah Oswald.

“It was really tough to come off a game yesterday in 95-degree heat, where we really took it to Whitehall, and then come back and play a quality team like Wilson, who didn’t play yesterday and had fresher legs,” said Oswald. “I give credit to every girl on that field today who gave it their hardest, even though I know they’re tired and I know they’re sore.”

Emmaus downed Whitehall (1-1-1, 1-1-1) 3-1 on Friday, getting goals from Maddie Fey, Gianna Albanese and Maddie Nader, while goalkeeper Jessica Harnett made 15 saves. Harnett was again fantastic in goal against Wilson West Lawn on Saturday, but Kayla Bennington was able to score with 5:43 left in the second overtime to give Wilson a 1-0 win.

“The girls are playing confidently and utilizing what we trained and worked on,” said Oswald. “I think this is the best early in the season where we’ve really been effective in moving forward and getting opportunities put on the board. I’m excited to see where they’re going to go, continue growing, continue maturing and I think we’re going to be very successful if we continue on the same track that we’ve been on.”

The five goals Emmaus (2-1, 2-2) has scored this season have all come from different players. In addition to Fey, Albanese and Nader, Sophie Pickering and Kellie Reith have scored for the Hornets. Reith also had a key assist in the win over Whitehall.

Emmaus has a good mix of upperclassmen and underclassmen who are all combining to do good things. The large junior and senior contingent has provided leadership and helped the younger players to fit into their roles with the team.

“You never want to peek early,” said Oswald. “It helps that a lot of the kids that we have on our roster are experienced varsity players. We’re a very old team as far as having a bunch of juniors and seniors and I think that helps us in that our freshmen and sophomores have come in and really joined this team and you don’t really know that they’re young players. They’ve become a part of the team. They’re just varsity soccer players.”

Emmaus faces division rivals Nazareth (0-2-1, 0-2-2) and Central Catholic (2-1, 2-1) over the next week, along with East Stroudsburg North (0-3, 0-4). Oswald won’t allow her players to take any of the games for granted and is guarding against any letdowns from her players.

“You can never let down and you can never assume that you’re going to come out of a game with a win,” stressed Oswald. “The second that you do that, you’re going to find out why that’s not the way you play the game. I stress that we need the same intensity against every team, every game, in every aspect. These girls are playing confidently, but they’re not getting ahead of themselves and that’s what you want to see.”