Local teams had their opportunity to at least slow down the juggernaut that is Emmaus field hockey.

The team was struck by injuries and not at full strength late in the season.

Downingtown West was the only team to beat the Hornets in the regular season. Now, the Hornets are back at full strength just in time for the postseason.

The team began the postseason by earning its 10th straight East Penn Conference championship. Emmaus had to fight past Easton in a 4-0 contest at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium to get the latest gold.

The two teams have become very familiar with each other and have staged numerous battles with Easton being the top challenger to the Hornets in EPC field hockey.

It had been almost two months since the last meeting when the two teams met at the start of the season with Emmaus winning 5-0.

The familiarity with each other may have played a role in keeping the game scoreless until late in the first quarter when Madi Lenig got a pass through to Gracie Huffer, who put a shot past Red Rover goalie Evelyn Barnes for a 1-0 lead with just 1:18 left in the quarter.

Lenig is the team leader in assists with 27 and Huffer’s goal gave her the team lead with 23, just one more than sophomore Rylie Povilaitis.

While Lenig played a supporting role on the opening goal, she played the leading role in the final goal of the game when she was on the receiving end of a pass from Sharlise Solano and buried it to cap the scoring.

Sophomore Marissa Gigliotti was be the standout of the night for Emmaus as she scored twice – once each in the second and third quarters – to lead Emmaus in scoring on the night. Gigliotti’s first goal was assisted by Ella Horner and the second was unassisted.

“From playing them,” said Gigliotti, “e knew that the goalie would crash down and that she gets low, so we tried to get it up in the air. I knew she would be crashing on me, so I just tried to get it up and past her.

“When we play them, they’re very aggressive and they’re after the ball all the time and we have to step up and anticipate the ball or they’re going to be on it.”

The Emmaus defense limited the opportunities for Easton which led to a big advantage in shots on goal for Emmaus as they outshot the Red Rovers 17-3 in shots on goal and 19-3 in overall shots. Barnes made 13 saves for Easton and Emily Romano made three saves for Emmaus.

“I would say that we did a great job defensively tonight,” said Romoano. “We practice trying to get the ball out right away and we did that really well tonight. Our team does a great job of keeping our composure and we did that again tonight. We always play a very controlled game and stick to what we need to do to win.”

If 10 straight league titles are good, the 36 straight District 11 championships are great.

Emmaus rolls into the 3A district tournament as the top seed and will host eighth seeded Freedom Thursday night at Memorial Field. The Patriots last trip to Emmaus didn’t go well as they left with a 10-0 loss to the Hornets back on September 9th.

“We’re actually improving as we’re going through the tournament,” said coach Sue Butz-Stavin. “Everyone is back and we’re healthy. We did some chess-matching and moved some players around the field just to be a little more cohesive. We’re doing a lot better with the passing and finishing on goal.”

The fact that Emmaus is back to full strength doesn’t bode well for its opponents in districts. As usual, it’s going to be a tough task to stop Emmaus from making it 37 straight district championships.