Coming into the PIAA Tournament, Emmaus was one of the hottest boys soccer teams in the area. After working its way through a lull in the middle of the season, the Hornets responded to win their last four regular season games, lose a tough 2-1 overtime game to top-seeded Liberty in the league tournament and then bounce back to win the District 11 Class 4A championship.

That’s where the heat started to die down and Emmaus’ season came to an end with a 2-1 overtime loss to Council Rock North in the first round of states.

“It wasn’t that we didn’t play a good game,” said coach Emmaus head coach John Cari of the loss to Council Rock North. “We just got down early and it’s tough to come back against a team like that. We played really well in the second half, we just couldn’t get that goal that we needed.”

Emmaus went into the half down 1-0, but came out on the attack and took advantage of a corner opportunity when Noah Bacon tied the game. Neither team scored over the final 30 minutes of the half, sending the game to overtime.

The Hornets (12-7-4) had a shot at getting the win in overtime on a free-kick from just outside the box, but the kick went over the crossbar, ending the threat. Council Rock seemed to rally around the miss and went on to pressure Hornet goalie Dylan Sosnow, sneaking a shot past him for the winning goal.

Through late September, Emmaus weathered a stretch where it went 1-3-1, falling to 5-5-3 overall on the season. The Hornets rallied to win their last four games. They sent a strong message with an impressive showing over a powerhouse Liberty team in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference playoffs.

“We really can’t hang our heads at all,” said Cari. “I’m proud of this season, because we made it through tough times and showed how tough we could be. Our seniors played really well and they rallied the younger players and showed them that you don’t give up and we wound up with back-to-back district championships, beating some very good teams along the way.”

Sosnow was a huge part of the surge for Emmaus. The senior goalkeeper wasn’t in goal because of injury when Liberty scored the winning goal in overtime in the conference tournament. He was in goal though against Parkland when Emmaus won districts on penalty kicks and was strong against Council Rock North.

“There’s no doubt that Dylan had a heck of a year,” said Cari. “He made some huge saves for us along the way and came up big when we needed it.”

The Hornets have eight seniors – including standouts Sosnow, Bacon and Kacper Grycel – to replace for next season, and filling those holes won’t be easy.

“I think more than anything, we’re going to miss how hard these seniors worked for us,” said Cari. “Like I said, they they left their mark on the program and set the bar pretty high for the younger players.”