POSTGAME That’s all for today; good night and good hockey
POSTGAME Melea Weber, the junior who is verbally committed to UNC, came up trumps in the second half with a brace. She’s been outstanding and if she gets on a hot streak, watch out
POSTGAME Credit Oak Knoll for showing up to play against an opponent with 14 PIAA championships. But Emmaus is stern stuff, scoring four straight goals to win
FULL TIME At the final whistle, Emmaus wins the game 4-2
55:00 Last five minutes: does Oak Knoll have one final surge?
47:14 EHS GOAL Melea Weber with her second goal in less than six minutes and Emmaus now has open water on Oak Knoll; Hornets lead 4-2
END 3RD And off to the fourth term we go and it’s all to play for!
41:56 EHS GOAL Melea Weber is given a sliver of room in the striking circle and makes no mistake; Emmaus takes a 3-2 lead! What a comeback!
35:00 The teams are a little more circumspect in terms of letting the opposition have too much time and space to move to goal
30:00 The second half is under way
HALFTIME Question is, once the defenses mark out the “marquee” players, who will step up and score the critical goal in the second half?
HALFTIME Here’s the interesting thing, though: Oak Knoll has had 17 players record at least one goal or assist this year in a varsity game this year; Emmaus has had 16 players on the scoresheet
HALFTIME Just as I mention Oak Knoll early leads dissolving, Emmaus makes it so. This will be an interesting next half-hour of play
END HALF The sides are level at the interval
27:30 EHS PC and GOAL As you might expect, the Hornets have gotten a second quick goal. This is Abby Burnett’s goal from a Herbine feed. Game tied 2-2 and this has certainly changed the halftime team talk on both sidelines
23:34 EHS GOAL The Hornets have awakened. Haley Kvacky gets her eighth goal of the season off an Ava Zerfass feed and it’s now a one-goal game; OKS 2:1 EHS
20:30 Oak Knoll’s recent history is all about early leads. Last year’s team had a 3-0 lead over Voorhees Eastern (N.J.) in the Tournament of Champions final before the Vikings scored four straight. Eleven days ago, Oak Knoll had a 2-0 first-quarter lead against Pottstown Hill School (Pa.) before surrendering a 4-3 decision
19:41 OK PC and GOAL Emma Ramsey knocks it in, and the Emmaus faithful have to be stunned; Royals lead 2-0
END 1ST The teams finish the first stanza with Oak Knoll leading 1-0
5:00 This is only the second goal that an opponent has scored against Emmaus this year; Easton (Pa.) had the goal in a 4-1 result for the Hornets
4:38 OKS GOAL How about this? Morgan Willis, who was an absolute firecracker in last weekend’s win over Wyoming Seminary, gets on the board first as Oak Knoll leads Emmaus 1-0
0:00 The game is on
PREGAME Oak Knoll is in the all-navy kit with white numbers and trim; Emmaus is in the all-white with gold letters and green numbers
PREGAME The teams are warming up under cloudy skies, with temperatures around 60 degrees. Though there are remnants of Hurricane Ian in the region, the storm has weakened considerably in the last 12 hours and any rain should be minimal
PREGAME A couple of statistical notes on this contest. Rachel Herbine, at the close of play on Wednesday, led the country in both goals and assists, something we haven’t seen before. Herbine is also the 13th known member of the national 100 goals, 100 assists club. In addition, head coach Susan Butz-Stavin is the only scholastic field hockey coach in the 113-year history of the sport to have more than 1000 wins
PREGAME Oak Knoll’s schedule is extremely strong, and the Royals proved their worth last weekend at the National High School Invitational with a win over our preseason No. 1 Wyoming Seminary. The Royals’ two defeats were against Pottstown Hill School (Pa.) and Woolwich Kingsway (N.J.), two sides which could wind up picking up major trophies in November
PREGAME But ultimately, what a lot of people will be looking at is the teams’ relative strengths of schedule. Emmaus has been dominant, scoring nine goals or more in 11 out of its 13 games against a league which is down two members, as Allentown Louis E. Dieruff (Pa.) and Bushkill East Stroudsburg North (Pa.) are not fielding teams in 2022
PREGAME This is the first time these two sides have met in competition, and the teams are a stark series of contrasts. Public vs. private, Pennsylvania vs. New Jersey, as well as the relative enrollments (Emmaus 2500, Oak Knoll 300)
PREGAME Oak Knoll is led in attack by Julia and Emma Ramsey and midfielder Lea Good. On defense, goalkeeper Madeleine Sepe is being expected to handle a lot of the pressure
PREGAME Emmaus is led on offense by attackers Rachel Herbine and Melea Weber, supported ably by senior Abby Burnett. On defense, Sarah Schaffer and Emmy Condrack are expected to keep the pressure off goalie Emma Cari
PREGAME Emmaus, the defending PIAA Class AAA state champion, is 13-0 this season. Oak Knoll, the defending NJSIAA Non-Public champion, is 7-2 on the year
PREGAME Welcome to Memorial Field at Emmaus (Pa.) for today’s interstate matchup between Summit Oak Knoll (N.J.) and Emmaus (Pa.)
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