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LEHIGH VALLEY WEATHER
Bethlehem Catasauqua East Penn Northampton Northwestern Parkland Salisbury Whitehall-Coplay

Published May 14. 2021 11:31AM
by CJ HEMERLY Special to the Press

The Emmaus High School boys lacrosse team has had little trouble closing out and winning games during the 2021 season. The Green Hornets had won 17 of their 18 games on the schedule, almost all by multiple goals, including a 10-5 victory over Easton back on April 29.

The two teams met once again 11 days later, this time with more on the line. Top seed Emmaus held on to defeat fourth seed Easton 4-2 Monday evening in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference semifinal at Emmaus High School.

Emmaus scored three goals to open up the game, all in the first quarter, to stake to an early 3-0 lead. Zach Younker, Connor Flok and Aidan Garrett helped put their team into a multi-goal advantage to begin the game.

But from there, the Green Hornets offense had trouble finding the back of the net. It was held off the scoreboard for 37:30 of game-time action, while the Red Rovers (9-5) scored one goal in both the second and third quarters to cut their deficit to just one heading into the final quarter.

But freshman Will Barber, in his first postseason game, came up big for Emmaus, scoring a goal just 2:19 remaining to add back a multi-goal cushion and allow Emmaus to hold on for the victory.

“I saw the defender, he was giving me the alley, I drove through,” said Barber. “They slid and I bounced under and just finished it. It was so exciting. I could hear the crowd cheering and my teammates just came up and hugged me. It was a really exciting moment.”

According to Barber, Emmaus knows that it has the athletes to be in every game, but the Hornets can’t just show up and play. They have to be up for every game.

“We learned that we’re a good enough team to win ugly,” Barber said. “It wasn’t a good game but we found a way to win. I think a lot of us were getting frustrated during but we kept our confidence up and I think that’s going to continue for the rest of the season.”

Cade Speicher added an assist in the game for the Green Hornets.

Emmaus will now take on the second seed, Central Catholic, in the EPC championship game on Thursday at Northampton Area High School

PRESS PHOTO BY DON HERB Will Barber's late goal helped give Emmus the cushion it needed to beat Easton in the league semifinals Monday.
PRESS PHOTO BY DON HERB Hornet goal keeper Benjamin Franco kept his team in the game Monday during a long stretch without a goal.
PRESS PHOTO BY DON HERB Zachary Younker scored an early goal to help Emmaus stake a 3-0 lead in the East Penn Conference semifinal on Monday.