The Emmaus High School boys soccer team had another successful season in 2025, winning the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship, finishing runner-up in the District 11 4A final and winning its First Round state playoff game.

“Anytime you can get to the state playoffs and win a game, you’ve had success,” said Emmaus head coach John Cari. “It wasn’t easy, though. We did not score a goal in the district playoffs, getting through on PKs twice, and not allowing a goal in the state playoffs. That’s incredible, and I’m super proud, but it left us wanting more. I told my players, and I truly believe that if we can score, we will win, for defensively, we knew how good we were. We were able to do it against La Salle, but fell short against West Chester Henderson, but not without trying. We had a few really good opportunities that came up just short.”

The Hornets, who finished the year 20-3-3 overall, defeated Nazareth in the EPC quarterfinals, Northampton in the semifinal round and then took down Freedom in the final for their second straight EPC gold.

“Anytime you can win a title of any sort is reason to celebrate,” Cari said. “I’m glad and super proud we were able to come away with something this season. This group was special.”

In districts, the Hornets were the top seed and beat Easton in the quarterfinals and then Liberty in the semifinals, both via a penalty shootout. Emmaus fell to Parkland 1-0 in the final.

At states, the Hornets were victorious 1-0 over District 12 champ La Salle College in the first round but had their season end in a penalty shootout loss to West Chester Henderson in the quarterfinal round on Saturday, Nov. 8.

Emmaus was led in scoring by senior Canyon Reinhardt, who had 12 goals and five assists. Senior Conner Powell tallied nine goals and two assists. Junior Anthony Suida recorded eight goals and six assists and both juniors Alek Przybylski and Gabe Reyes scored six goals and two assists. Sophomore Brennan Stack led the team with seven assists and tacked on three goals. Senior goalies Gavin Yartymyk and Will Peck made 37 saves and 32 saves, respectively.

Emmaus will graduate a talented senior class, including Peck, Rio Johnson, Caleb Parker, Powell, Reinhardt, Robbie Tumblin, Logan Armstrong, Andrew Manz, Frank Colosimo, Austen Breisch and Yartymyk.

“The senior class has much to be proud of,” said Cari. “Several of them have been with us and have completed a 58-9-5 record over those three years, with two league, and a distinct title, along with a state win. They have set a great mark for others to follow and try to accomplish. Most of all, I truly enjoyed working with them. I loved coming to practice every day. They worked hard, but always made it fun.”

Even with the large class leaving, Cari is excited for who is coming back next season.

“I am really excited about next season,” Cari said. “We bring back a ton of talent in guys like Alecks Przybylski, Noah Delgado, and Brennan Stack. We bring back 3/4 of a defense with Delgado, along with Ben Grossi and Lorenzo LoPicccolo, that allowed six goals against. With another year of development and the addition of players from a successful JV program, I think we look to even better ourselves from this season.”