WINCHESTER — Swampscott resident Aidan Emmerich is hoping this is the year he finally breaks through and wins the big one.

Last year, Emmerich reached the semifinals of the 117th Massachusetts Amateur, only to lose a close one, leaving what he described as a “sour taste in my mouth.”

Friday, at Winchester Country Club, the Kernwood CC member turned sour to sweet and is one step closer to raising the champion’s Massachusetts Cup, narrowly defeating 2024 champion Matthew Naumec (Framingham CC) 2-up in the semifinals. With the win, Emmerich will take on Zachary Georgantas (Foxborough CC) in the 36-hole championship match Saturday (7:30) with the winner receiving an automatic spot at the U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club in August.

“Since [last year], I’ve just put my head down and wanted to get to this point. I obviously want to get one step further, actually two steps,” the former St. Mary’s High and Temple University standout said. “Today, I just tried to take it one shot at a time. Fortunately, that gameplan worked.”

The match was about as close as it gets. While Emmerich never trailed, his largest lead was 2-up. Standing on the 18th tee with a 1-up lead, Emmerich sealed the match with a conceded par after Naumec ran his birdie putt 12′ past the hole and missed the comeback.

“He had a similar putt to mine, but I lagged mine to about four feet and being one down, he needed to make birdie, so he went for it,” Emmerich said. “I wasn’t surprised he conceded my putt since I didn’t need to make it after he missed his par putt.”

Both players parred the first five holes to stay even. Emmerich birdied the par-3 6th to go 1-up. Naumec leveled the match with a birdie on the par-4 7th. Emmerich won the par-4 8th with a par, then Naumec countered with a birdie on the par-3 9th to leave the match tied with nine holes to go.

After trading the next two holes, Emmerich pulled ahead with an up-and-down birdie from eight feet on the par-5 12th. The duo halved the tricky par-5 13th with birdies with Emmerich making a clutch 5-footer.

“That putt definitely settled me down a bit after he already was in for birdie,” Emmerich said.

Emmerich bumped his lead to 2-up with a routine par on the par-3 14th. Naumec closed to 1-down with a birdie on the par-4 16th, then nearly drove the 428-yard par-4 17th. After Naumec failed to get up and down, the players halved the hole with pars, setting the stage for the final hole.

“He (Naumec) is a hell of a player . . . and I knew he was good, but I didn’t see that drive he hit on 17 in my book,” Emmerich said. “My coach Sean McTerran told me he was a big hitter, but felt that would be my advantage in match play. He said, ‘make the guy beat you.’ I haven’t been hitting it too well this week and just have been trying to stay as patient as I can and wait for the time to come. I hit some pretty quality shots down the stretch to sort of put them away. And then the putt on the last was just nails.”

Emmerich said he plans to stick to his one-shot-at-a-time playbook in the championship match. He credited his caddie, fellow Swampscott buddy Charlie Locke, for being a steadying influence.

“He helps me out a lot. He’s got some interesting sayings. He’s getting some good experience under his belt here,” Emmerich said. “He’s my best friend, so I can’t be happier to have him out here.”

Emmerich graduated from Temple this spring with a degree in communication. His immediate plans are to play as much golf as he can and “see where the game takes me.”

Emmerich attributes his success to putting and a strong mental game.

“It’s just believing in myself,” he said. “I used to get super down, so just trying to have the next-play mindset and keep going from there. I know I’m good enough and I know I can do it, so I’ve just got to trust myself. 

“Mentally, you have to come out here and trust yourself. Trust every shot you’re gonna hit. The bad shots are gonna happen, doubles are gonna happen, things are gonna happen. You’ve just got to keep battling the adversity and get over the hump.”