Emmaus seniors savor 1 last moment together
Standout Faust returning as Green Hornets try to defend 3A state title
Kyleigh Faust was more than a little nervous Nov. 13.
It was her 18th birthday, and a bittersweet one at that: Because of a medical precaution, she had to listen on the radio and watch a livestream as her lifelong field hockey teammates at Emmaus High School fought to keep their season alive — and they did — in a 2-1 win over Methacton in the PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals.
She was more nervous this past Tuesday. She was again not cleared to play, but her Green Hornets came through again. This time it was a 3-1 comeback win over Conestoga in the PIAA Class 3A semifinals.
Faust, a star defensive player with offensive skills, has signed to play at Liberty University. After a few days of protocols, she has been cleared to play in Saturday afternoon’s PIAA Class 3A championship game at Whitehall.
She can now exhale. She knows that this is her final high school game, one way or another. And she has a say in the outcome.
“I was so relieved,” Faust said. “When we were down one goal [against Conestoga], I was really nervous.”
Game time is 3 p.m. The opponent is perennial District 3 power Lower Dauphin (23-0-1). The schools have met in the state championship twice before. The Falcons won 2-1 in 2013 and Emmaus won 3-2 in overtime in 1996.
Had Emmaus (27-0) lost either the quarterfinal or semifinal game, Faust’s career would have been over and she could have done nothing about it. Her teammates and good friends did something about it by giving the program a shot at its second state title in a row, its fourth since 2015 and 14th overall.
“That’s what we were talking about,” senior midfielder Jenna Villeneuve said. “That [first-round game] couldn’t be Kyleigh’s last game.”
“As long as [Faust] wasn’t able to play, that was heartbreaking,” senior midfielder Brooke Mancini said. “That made our team come together and play for each other. Knowing it was her birthday made us sad.”
Faust, Villeneuve, Mancini and midfielder/forward Alexis Kociban have been field hockey buddies for a long time. They are expected to be joined in Saturday’s starting lineup by underclassmen Hailey Kvacky, Rachel Herbine, Autumn Kernechel and Ava Zerfass, midfielders Abby Burnett, Jordyn Poll, Sarah Schaffer and goalkeeper Emma Cari.
Emmaus has won 43 consecutive games and is 183-3 since the beginning of the 2015 season. Coach Sue ButzStavin, the nation’s all-time leader in field hockey wins with 1,014, has a 13-2 record in state championship games.
But all anyone wearing green and yellow wants Saturday is one more win.
Everything that came before Saturday is nice, but the reason that Emmaus has compiled such ridiculous numbers is that the Hornets care about only what is in front of them: the next game, the next pass, the next position adjustment.
Through it all, the seniors have compiled as many memories as wins.
“We have some great memories,” Faust said. “Winning states with them last year, it meant a lot to us. Going to states is really fun. We want to go out and finish our season with back-toback state championships. Every year we have different motivations.”
Villeneuve has one of the most misspelled and mispronounced last names, to the point where she expects and is prepared to laugh when a visiting announcer stumbles and pauses before saying it in pregame introductions. Villeneuve will head off to the Ivy League to play at Cornell next fall.
“I’m so used to it, [so] it doesn’t even bother me,” she said. “There is always this long pause and they always say it differently.”
She said that she will miss playing with her friends, who do know how to pronounce and spell her name.
“Outside of field hockey, [Faust, Kociban and Mancini are] my best friends,” Villeneuve said. “Playing with them means so much to me.”
This will probably be the final competitive game for Mancini, who
may study business and marketing in college.
“Our relationship is amazing,” Mancini said. “We’ve played together since second grade. … Our coaches have a big streak, but we just go game by game. If we win, we win. We play every game just to play that game.”
Kociban walked off the turf at Memorial Field as a field hockey player for the final time after practice Friday afternoon. She will probably never have a practice again as she makes plans for college next year. Her competitive career will be over after Saturday.
“It’s been a sisterhood between all of us,” she said. “It’s amazing watching us grow . ... It was a little emotional walking off the field for the last time.”