In a quirk of scheduling, the sixth-seeded Freedom girls soccer team essentially hosted the number-two seed Emmaus last week in the semifinals of the EPC playoffs when the two teams met at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium.

Fortunately for the Hornets, the location didn’t matter and Emmaus downed the Patriots 3-0 a couple weeks ago.

In the District 11 quarterfinals, Freedom had to travel to Emmaus’ home field and this time around it was Freedom that came out on top with a 2-1 win that eliminated Emmaus and ended their season with a 15-5-1 overall record.

Emmaus had the better of the play through much of the first half, keeping pressure on Freedom goalie Megan Raffino. While Raffino made a number of strong saves, Emmaus players also missed a number of opportunities with shots that went wide of their mark and traveled harmlessly across the end line.

With just 1:16 left to play in the first half, Freedom’s Katie Flynn made a strong feed to Haley Gschrey that resulted in a Freedom goal. Gschrey beat two defenders and was able to cut inside to fire a shot that put the Patriots up 1-0 heading into halftime.

“We had seven or eight opportunities in the first half to put one away and were unable to capitalize and it’s very frustrating for a team,” said Hornet head coach Sarah Oswald. “When you give a team with talent like Haley [Gschery] the ability to score, you know they’re going to be dangerous.”

In the 12th minute of the second half, the duo hooked up again on basically the same play. Gschrey again beat a defender and put the shot across the goal and into the left corner to give Freedom (15-6-0) some insurance with a 2-0 lead.

“It was concerning,” said Oswald. “I’m not sure that there are many teams that when we are at our best are better than us. I do think there are times where we defeat ourselves. One of the biggest challenges we’ve had as a team this season is being able to consistently put the ball in the back of the net and unfortunately, that’s what plagued us tonight.”

It turned out that Freedom needed the insurance when senior Lauren Latchford fired a shot past Raffino that made it a one-goal game at 2-1. Latchford is one of 14 seniors on the roster who saw their high school careers come to an end with the loss to Freedom.

“This senior class has been a huge milestone for the program from where we were and where we want to get to,” said Oswald. “We have a large senior class with a ton of talent and it’s one we’re definitely going to miss next year.

“This senior class is probably one of the more talented classes we’ll have here at Emmaus High School and probably the best group of leaders we’ve had. Not just their ability on the field, but their leadership off the field is going to be missed.”