The Emmaus boys soccer team made the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference tournament as the eighth seed of eight teams The Hornets won their last four games of the regular season to clinch the final spot.

Last Saturday afternoon in the conference quarterfinal, however, the Green Hornets (9-6-4 overall) didn’t look like the underdog. They played like the league favorite that they have perennially been over the past decade under head coach John Cari.

James Haag headed in the game’s opening goal and Emmaus held all of the momentum. Then Chase Tackett tied the game at 1-1 with 17 minutes remaining, and the game went to overtime. A little over five minutes into the first 15-minute overtime, the No. 1 seed Hurricanes scored the winner from the head of Valentin Perevalov and advanced to the EPC semifinals with a 2-1 overtime win at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium.

“Liberty hasn’t lost a game all year [except for two forfeits] and it shows, they’re a great team,” said Cari. “The way they celebrated after scoring that goal shows how happy they are to get out of here with a win over us.

I think this loss still gives us a lot of confidence heading into districts. I know it’s hard to lose in the first round of leagues, but I’m not disappointed about it. We played really well today and I think we can build off of it.”

The Hornets got onto the score board the way have many times this season: through a set piece.

Emmaus worked the ball down into Liberty’s 18, and was awarded a corner kick. Dakota Bauer stepped up and played a ball into the six-yard box that found the head of Haag, who put away his fifth goal of the season for an early 1-0 lead.

With defense becoming the mindset, the Green Hornets kept a large number of players behind the ball and in front of goalie Dylan Sosnow (6 saves).

But then the Hurricanes (17-2 overall) gave Emmaus a taste of its own medicine.

Tackett tied the game on a Liberty corner kick of their own midway through the second half, and after each team traded opportunities at ending the game during regulation, the defenses held firm and it went into extra time.

There, once again, a set piece came into play.

After Sosnow was taken out of the game due to injury, junior goalie Sam Cho was thrown into the fire and made a save off of a ripped shot that saved the game for Emmaus, at least until the ensuing corner kick.

The ball in was cleared off the line, but Perevalov collected it and fired a shot into the upper corner of the net for the winner.

“We knew they would be dangerous on corner kicks,” said Cari. “We actually focused a little bit on what they were going to do at practice leading up to the game. I’m a little disappointed that we let them in after we worked on it. We know set pieces are our identity; we’re good at defending them and we’re good at setting them up. I was still pleased with the overall play.”

Emmaus now has their sights set on repeating as District 11 champions. The tournament begins next week.

“That’s our goal, to once again be there in the end,” Cari said. “We keep talking about that. We want to be there again. Two teams go to states, and we want to be one of them. We’ll refocus after this one, and have a full week of practice ahead to prepare and get better.”