The Emmaus girls soccer team gave Parkland a scare last week in the early part of the District 11 Class 4A title game.

The Hornets scored and early goal and held the lead for about seven minutes of the first half. But Parkland responded with three goals in the final 24 minutes of the first half en route to a 4-1 win.

“We were really excited to get that first goal,” said Emmaus head coach Sarah Oswald. “We talked about putting them on their heels and putting all the pressure on them. We were able to do it. Unfortunately they opened the flood gates with one and they all kept coming. We weren’t able to gain control again.”

The Hornets’ Maddi Woodward got her team a 1-0 lead when she ran onto a loose ball in front of the net and sneaked a shot into the right corner of the net in the 10th minute of play.

Parkland, the top seed in the 4A bracket, got the equalizer with 23:57 left in the first half when Mariana Aubele-Gonzalez dribbled through to defenders and blasted a shot past Hornet keeper Molly Lineberger.

Ivy Dias put Parkland (18-2-1) in front when she gathered a rebound and found the back of the net for a 2-1 lead with 8:28 left in the first half. Catherine Crampton converted a penalty shot less than three minutes later to give the Trojans a 3-1 halftime lead.

Aubele-Gonzalez finished off Parkland’s scoring with an insurance goal just over six minutes into the second half.

The loss ends the season for an Emmaus team that went 12-8 overall in 2021, with four of those setbacks coming against the district champion Trojans, who went on to defeat Nazareth 2-1 in the title game.

Parkland knocked Emmaus out of both leagues and districts in the semifinal round of each this season.

Emmaus came into the season without a lot of varsity experience, and with last year’s shortened season even many of the returning players hadn’t played a full varsity season.

“Overall I’m really proud of these kids,” said Oswald. “We weren’t sure what this team would be made of when we got on the field in August. The last two seasons we lost a ton of key players. This was pretty much a brand-new team of players who were one- and two-year varsity kids.

“They showed up and exceeded any expectation we had for them and I think for themselves. They put themselves in positions to win big games.”

Emmaus will graduate eight seniors this year. Four are starters and all eight were key players in 2021. This year’s senior class includes Madison Brzezinski, Sophia Candy, Kaitlyn Ewing, Molly Lineberger, Jena Luck, Olivia Naccarato, Kameron Watkins and Hannah Yencho.

“Every single one of them brings a special thing to the team, whether it’s leadership time on the field or just who they are as people,” said Oswald. “Overall I think this is the best group of seniors we’ve had in terms of unity that they have not only for the group of eight but they also show the underclassmen what our Emmaus program should be and how we’d like it to be and we hope we can carry that forward as they move on to the next chapter in their lives.”

Emmaus will return seven starters, including its entire back line.