Emmaus upsets No. 1 Freedom
Green Hornets earn rematch with Parkland
Emmaus advanced to its 11th consecutive District 11 boys soccer championship game Thursday evening with a 2-0 win over No. 1 seed Freedom at Whitehall High School’s Zephyr Sports Complex.
This one was a little more unlikely than most.
Coach John Cari’s Green Hornets struggled toward the end of the season and lost to Parkland, 1-0, in the EPC semifinals. They entered the District 11 semifinal with a 12-4-5 overall record. Freedom, meanwhile, demolished all four of its playoff opponents, prevailing by a combined score of 21-2. The Patriots entered with a 19-3 mark and on a 14-game win streak.
“It was a weird situation being the underdog,” said Cari, whose program is the winningest big-school program in District 11.
“They were rolling. Beyond the wins, they were putting in five, six and seven goals per game throughout the playoffs. I’m really excited about this one. We knew how good they were.”
No. 4 seed Emmaus earns its rematch with second-seeded Parkland in the Class 4A final 7 p.m. Thursday at Whitehall.
Parkland outlasted Nazareth 1-0 in overtime in the other semifinal.
Sophomore Ryan Kiernan got the Green Hornets going Tuesday with his 14th this season just eight minutes into the game. Senior Bryan Flor tallied his 11th to set the final score with 30:52 remaining in the contest.
Emmaus’ tough, experienced ‘D’ was the story of this win, however.
Buoyed by senior center backs Jaeden Amato and John Hanvey, the Green Hornets stymied the EPC’s top scoring tandem in Freedom seniors Peter Tichy and Sebastian Garces, who combined for 49 goals and 59 assists this season.
Amato’s aggressive slidetackle, stopping a Tichy closerange shot attempt early in the second half was a microcosm of the night for both teams.
Amato, Tichy and Garces were selected to the all-state team earlier Tuesday. Tichy was named EPC MVP.
“It was very important marking Seba and Tichy, especially with all their goals this season,” Amato said. “We knew they had a good offense and we have a good defense, obviously. So I was interested in that matchup.
“We had one guy marking those two and one sitting behind them and communicating with each other.”
Emmaus, the two-time defending District 11 4A champs, reached the state semifinals a season ago. Each of the Green Hornets’ four defensive starters returned this season, along with goalkeeper Ty Bleiler.
“I felt the matchup they didn’t want was us,” Cari said. “Their offense against our defense. I was very proud of the way we came out of the winning end on that
one. To take out two goal scorers and put a zero on that board, I am ecstatic.”
Freedom coach Matthew Reightler said the first score of the night was the biggest one — and it set the tone for the rest of the contest.
“They scored first,” Reightler said. “This our fourth loss,
in three of them the other team scored first. Once they took a lead, they were able to sit guys back on defense, they took us out of our possession and once we started to play longball, it’s not who we are. They put two people on PJ [Tichy] and they took him out of the game.”
Emmaus and Freedom have combined to capture the last three Class 4A crowns. Freedom won the title in 2018 and Emmaus earned back-to-back championships in 2019 and 2020.
Cari’s Green Hornets now aim for their third in a row. They tied Parkland 1-1 on Oct. 2, lost 3-0 on Oct. 13 and fell 1-0 in OT on Oct. 20. Amato, though, said Emmaus will be ready for Round 4.
“We want Parkland,” the senior captain said. “We want to take it back to them.”
District 11 update
Class 4A
Parkland 1, Nazareth 0 OT: At Emmaus, junior Lucas Heberling scored early in the overtime period and its defense dominated as the No. 2 seed Trojans reached their second championship game of the season. Parkland won its last District 11 4A title in 2017.
Class 3A Northwestern Lehigh 2, East Stroudsburg South 1:
At Parkland, Colin Coffield scored two goals for the top-seeded Tigers, who led 2-0. East Stroudsburg South scored its goal on a penalty kick from Tobias Golab. Northwestern aims for a third straight district title in Thursday’s final at a site and time to be determined.
Southern Lehigh 4, Blue Mountain 1:
At Lehighton, the No. 3 seed Spartans scored the game’s final three goals to earn another shot at rival Northwestern with a championship at stake. Southern Lehigh lost 2-0 to Northwestern in the Colonial League final.
Class 2A Central Catholic 6, Jim Thorpe 0:
At Catasauqua, junior Maksym Komperda scored two goals and four others scored one goal apiece as the top-seeded Vikings dismantled Jim Thorpe. Central Catholic advances to Thursday’s District 11 final at a site and time to be determined.
Notre Dame-GP 8, Palisades 1: At Liberty, Francesco D’Avella ad Brendan Boyle both scored two goals to lead the second-seeded Crusaders to a rout. D’Avella added three assists. Notre Dame aims for its fifth consecutive 2A title in Thursday’s final.
Class A
Moravian Academy 12, Tri-Valley 0: At Northwestern Lehigh, the No. 1 seed Lions rolled into Thursday’s final opposite of second-seeded Schuylkill Haven, which shut out Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg 3-0 in Tuesday’s other semifinal. Moravian Academy plays for its ninth straight District 11 title.