It wasn’t the prettiest game of soccer, but Emmaus was still able to pick up a 2-0 win over Whitehall. The game was marred not only by the rain, but five yellow cards were handed out and there were two ejections from the game.

Emmaus had the upper hand through most of the first half and kept constant pressure on Zephyrs’ goalie Justin Mattison, who turned aside some big shots. Thomas Hanvey played a ball into the box perfectly for teammate Jake Groh, who beat Mattison for the first goal of the game just 10 minutes into the contest.

The Hornets (4-1-1 EPC, 5-2-1 overall) got a huge goal with just 16 seconds left in the first half off of a corner kick that Justin Llado played perfectly in front of the net to put Emmaus up 2-0. The ball was initially played by Creyn Muthard and then bounced off of Groh before Llado placed the ball into the goal.

The late goal sank Whitehall (3-2-1, 3-2-1).

“If they could have found the opportunity to get one, without that goal, we’re tied up and it forced them to make some different adjustments at halftime and it was big,” said Emmaus head coach John Cari. “With the weather changing, I yelled to Tom to go low with his kick and it made the difference with the ball skimming through.”

Both teams came out with a more physical approach in the second half and the referees looked to keep the game in control with a barrage of yellow cards. Emmaus’ Eric Johnson was the first to get carded, followed by Nathan Walker. Emmaus assistant coach A.J. Bishop had been warned by the refs about his complaints from the sideline and when he again chided the officials, he was ejected from the contest. Partick Walsh and Andrew McAllister went on to receive yellow cards for Emmaus and Kresstoph Whittick received another yellow for Whitehall. Late in the game, Walker engaged the officials in a heated discussion and was also ejected.

“I thought they were not afraid to take the card out in the second half, which is good; it would have gotten even crazier had they not done that,” said Cari. “I think once it started heating up, they had no problem taking the game back.”

Cari was been pleased with how his team has been playing, mentioning their 3-0 win over Downingtown West in a key nonconference matchup prior to having to play Whitehall.

“I’ve thought that our play has been much better lately,” said Cari. “I thought we came out with a very good performance against Downingtown and I thought that, especially considering the weather and everything, we played well tonight and this was a big game, because the winner was going to take over the top spot in the division.”

After dropping two of their first three games, Emmaus now has a five-game unbeaten streak and sits atop the Skyline Division in the EPC.

Emmaus followed up the big win with a 1-1 tie against Freedom (4-0-3, 5-0-3). Emmaus had 10 shots on goal in the game compared to just two for Freedom but were unable to finish even though they kept strong pressure on Freedom goalies Derek Bast and Zack Raffino. Emmaus goalie Chris Buck needed to make just one save in the game.

On Monday, Groh and Nick Cari both recorded hat tricks in a 9-0 win over Pocono Mountain West (2-5-0, 4-5-0). For Groh, it was his third hat trick of the season. Llado picked up his third goal of the season, as did Andrew Gaines. Muthard added a goal for his second of the season.

The Hornets are at Dieruff (0-6-1, 0-6-1) on Thursday and then at Easton (2-2-2, 2-2-2) on Monday for their next two conference games. After that, they’re home Tuesday against Pleasant Valley (6-1-0, 6-1-0) and East Stroudsburg South (3-3-0, 3-3-0) next week.