Injuries and a tough postseason schedule finally caught up with the Emmaus boys soccer team as it fell to Abington 4-0 in the opening round of the PIAA soccer championship.

The Hornets limped into the game with a number of players banged up, but were hoping to find a way to win just as they had been doing since late in the regular season when injuries started to mount.

Emmaus had lost an overtime battle with Freedom in the District 11 championship game and because of that loss, was on the road for the state playoff opener, traveling to Hatboro-Horsham High School to face Abington (21-3), the runner-up from District 1.

Abington is known for its attacking style of play that tends to get defenses on its heels. The Galloping Ghosts got a first-half goal from Nevin Baer and two second-half goals from Sean Touey, who fired from long distance on both shots. Emmaus also scored an inadvertent goal into their own net in the first half, which didn’t help matters and had them down 2-0 at halftime.

Even though they played the postseason with injuries, coach John Cari never used the injuries as an excuse. Instead, he looked to his players to step up, which they did against some pretty tough teams.

“You never use that as an excuse, it’s just the reality of the situation and it’s something that you have to deal with,” said Cari earlier in the postseason. “Good teams get guys to step in and take over and we’ve seen guys do that for us. Nobody points fingers, nobody gets down, you just go with whoever is next in line to pick up those minutes and you do the best that you can.”

Emmaus struggled to get clear looks at the net against the Ghosts, managing just one shot on goal in the game, while Abington took nine shots on goal. Abington also got the best of corners, picking up five corners compared to the two for Emmaus.

Emmaus (15-7-1) loses eight seniors to graduation, including team captains Alex Aiken and Callen Reid. Also gone are Connor Dang, Anthony DeCresci, Justin Llado, Alex Tomasello and Evan Witman.

As a group, the senior class went a combined 65-22-7 in their four seasons and collected two District 11 championships. It also played in both the conference and district playoffs in all four years and went to states in three of the four seasons.

“It’s a great group of kids and they’ve worked hard for everything,” said Cari. “They’ve really been a lot of fun to be around and it’s been nice to watch them develop as players and as young men. They’re leaving the program in good shape because they’ve helped the younger players to adjust and have led by example.”

While the holes created by graduation won’t be easy to fill, Cari will have a number of key players returning for their senior season next year. Among them are top goal scorer Jake Groh, who led the team with 15 goals. Thomas Hanvey will also be a senior and led the team in assists in 2018 with 12 assists and four goals. Another current junior, Nick Cari, was in and out of the lineup with injuries this season and looks to have a bounce back season as a senior.

“A lot of our younger kids have gotten a lot of playing time, so we’re still going to have experience to draw from next season,” said Cari. “These guys have really played like a team throughout the season and we’ll have to see what some of the guys who didn’t get a chance to play a lot can do for us as they look to get to the next level.”