EMMAUS - Last season, Emmaus was the top seed in both the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and District 11 tournaments, while Pleasant Valley was third in both.

The Bears pulled off upsets of No. 2 Easton in both tournaments to go to the finals against the Hornets, but that’s where the similarities end.

In the league playoffs, Pleasant Valley was again an upset winner in beating Emmaus 11-9. In districts though, Emmaus took gold in an 11-6 win.

Fast forward one year and this time around, Pleasant Valley is the top seed in both, with Emmaus the No. 2 seed in both the league and district playoffs.

The seeding for districts had been set earlier, but the EPC seedings were decided Thursday when the Bears went to Emmaus and beat the Hornets 9-5 to lock up a perfect season in league play.

The early minutes of the game were like the boxer versus wrestler charity match scene in Rocky III.

Rocky Balboa tells Thunder Lips - played by Hulk Hogan - that they would just dance around a little and pretend to land a couple punches. It all seemed nice and calm until Mr. Lips shows his true personality and starts pounding on Rocky.

Pleasant Valley ended the dancing midway through the first half when Devon Bush put a shot past junior goaltender Alani Shotwell, landing the first punch. Three minutes later, Bush worked her way into position to get her second goal, making it 2-0.

Then, with Emmaus’ Jordyn Poll sitting out after receiving a yellow card, the Bears looked to toss Rocky out of the ring when sophomore Rylee Rath took a pass from Bush and was able to beat Shotwell to make it 3-0. The combo of Bush and Rath had a hand in all nine of PV’s goals.

Shotwell made several early saves to keep the damage from getting worse as the Hornets looked to start their offense. The problem for Emmaus was that the Pleasant Valley defense is as good as you will find in District 11, and has allowed just 97 goals this season with one game left on its regular season schedule.

Emmaus was held to just nine shots on goal in the game, while the Bears fired 18 at Shotwell.

Pleasant Valley is young, but they have learned the importance of being on the same page and being aware of what is going on around them. Junior Cecelia Cordova sees the defense as one cohesive unit that works well together.

“The key to our defense is communication, and being there for each other,” said Cordova. “We always have each other’s slides and just communicate. We are a tight group of players, and we work well as a team.”

Leading 3-1 at halftime was not enough of a cushion for Pleasant Valley, and their young duo of Bush and Rath went back to work as both scored goals within the first six minutes of the second half, making it 5-1.

Emmaus’ Emily Hollinger - who in a win over Governor Mifflin earlier in the week recorded her 200th-career point, and her 100th-groundball of the season - looked to bring the Hornets back by scoring two goals - the second coming on a free position play.

Rath, however, took a pass from Olivia Iandoli off a free position play and made it 6-3. Just over two minutes later, she fired a shot that bounced off Shotwell and caromed right back to her for a second chance - which she fired home for her fourth goal of the game. With 5:45 left to play, Bush picked up her fourth score of the night and Pleasant Valley had an 8-5 advantage.

Showing that they were not going to go easily, Emmaus again made it interesting when sophomore Brooke Peterson joined the scoring off an assist from Melea Weber. Later, Hollinger found Bri McClain for her second goal of the night, cutting it to a three-goal margin with 1:39 remaining.

Pleasant Valley senior Madison Fava joined her younger colleagues in the scoring barrage when Bush set her up nicely to make it 9-5 and officially wrap up the game.

The Bears play Pennridge tonight in their regular-season finale, hoping to finish undefeated.

There’s a chance Rath may be sitting after she aggravated a sore foot that first began to bother her a few games earlier. At that time, Rath felt some pain that she described as “weird” in her foot. She experienced the same feeling late in the game and had ice strapped to her foot, but was able to laugh with teammates after the game.

RIVALS ... The Hornets and Bears are developing a lacrosse rivalry. They met in last year’s EPC championship game, with Pleasant Valley winning 11-9. Emmaus gained revenge in the district title contest by an 11-6 score.

STANDINGS ... This season, PV (17-0; 8-0) is the top seed in both league and districts. Emmaus (14-4; 6-2) will be the second seed in the two events. Emmaus and Easton both finished with 6-2 EPC records, but the Hornets beat Easton during the regular season to give them the tiebreaker.