Emmaus rolls to its 34th consecutive title

Pressure? What pressure? There is no pressure when you do things the right way, according to Emmaus High School junior Melea Weber.

A University of North Carolina commit, Weber had a hand in five goals — three goals and two assists — to help lead Emmaus to an 8-3 win over Easton in the District 11 Class 3A championship game Thursday night at Whitehall’s Zephyr Sports Complex.

“We all love the game,” Weber said. “We all love to play. It’s very easy for us to keep putting in the hard work.”

Emmaus (23-0), winner of 67 straight games and the last two PIAA Class 3A titles, has won 34 consecutive District 11 championships since 1989. The Green Hornets open the state tournament Tuesday against either Methacton or Central Bucks West at a site and time to be determined.

Easton (19-3) will play either Great Valley or SpringFord of District 1 in the first round.

In the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader Northwestern Lehigh defeated Wilson 3-0 to claim the Class 1A championship. The Tigers and Warriors will both move on to the PIAA tournament Tuesday at sites and times to be determined.

Weber gave credit to head coach Sue Butz-Stavin and her staff.

“Our coaches put in a lot of effort to keep this going,” Weber said. “Our team just puts in so much effort in every practice, every game.”

Easton scored first when Gabby Lanier assisted on the first of three Jocelyn Morgan goals, but the Hornets, usually responding quickly and repeatedly, did so again before the end of the first quarter. Weber and Rachel Herbine scored before the end of the first quarter and Emmaus never relinquished the lead.

“It wasn’t a surprise to me that Easton would come out with a lot of fire,” Butz-Stavin said. “We have played them a lot in the district finals.

We played them early in the season. They have a lot of speed to contend with.

“They really put us to a test emotionally. We were caught flat-footed. We made a critical mistake coming out of the backfield.”

In fact, Easton scored the most goals on an Emmaus team in nearly four years, not since Hershey, with All-American Maddie Zimmer, knocked out the Hornets in the 2018 state semifinals.

Herbine, a University of Iowa commit, also had three goals.

Emmaus tends to go off on runs. This year the senior leadership of Herbine, Ava Zerfass and Abby Burnett are usually the instigators.

“Sometimes we rely on each other too much and have a moment of lull,” Butz-Stavin said. “Then we decided to put the gas back on. It’s a trigger, and it also comes from the senior class, especially from Abby. It’s contagious to the rest of the team.”

Goalkeeper Emma Cari recently made a verbal commitment to William & Mary. She will try to help navigate her team through another state tournament run starting Tuesday.

“This team is a great environment,” she said. “Our team is very supportive of each other. Obviously, today wasn’t my best day, but my team is there for me and will pick me up.”

To her credit, Butz-Stavin said she worries only about winning games and the welfare of her players. If a streak happens, so be it.

“I don’t talk about it,” she said. “Even in preseason, we don’t talk about winning. We set goals we want to accomplish. It’s more about executing offensive corners or structure. It’s tangible things we can do on the field.

“We don’t talk about winning a particular championship . ... Everybody knows in the back of their minds what our streak is.”

Easton will play in its first state tournament since 2019, when it reached the quarterfinals.

“Every game from here is going to be hard,” coach Casey Eck said. “We need to make more opportunities for ourselves. We have to protect and possess the ball and get ourselves some corners.”

Northwestern punished Wilson on penalty corners by 9-0 in the first quarter but was not able to get off a good shot. But Wilson was able to hold off the Tigers for only so long.

Josey Wehr, Brinley Rex and Cara Thomas all scored to send the Tigers to the state tournament for the fourth time in Lissa Opolsky’s tenure as head coach.

“There was a point where we were frustrated because we were getting all of these corners and weren’t getting shots off,” Wehr said. “We knew if we just kept sticking with it, we would get a shot. …

“We wanted to be here. We earned this championship. We wanted this more than anything. Since we lost the league, this meant everything to us.”

Wilson coach Scott Horton will take his team into the state tournament for the first time.

“We have to focus on learning from our mistakes, whatever they may be, and fix them, which is what we do every single game,” he said. “Nothing’s changed as far as that’s concerned.

“I know that [legendary wrestling coach] Thad Turner had a saying, “Fish don’t swim this far.’ You’re not going to see anyone who’s not at the top of their game.

“Anything can happen at this point.”

Tim Shoemaker is a freelancer for The Morning Call.