The Parkland girls soccer team squared off against a familiar foe last Monday night. The Trojans knocked off Central Catholic in last year's Lehigh Valley Conference championship game, and the Vikettes hadn't forgotten that.

Central (8-3-2) knew the goal-scoring ability of Parkland and played defensive-minded all game, holding the Trojans to a scoreless tie at Parkland High School.

The draw ended a current run of eight consecutive wins for Parkland, dating back to a September 14th loss at Stroudsburg 2-1.

"They put eight, nine players behind the ball," said head coach Al Haddad. "It's difficult to score on that. We knew they were going to have a packed in defense. We moved the ball as good as we could. We accumulated 13 corners to none. We did everything tactically that we could, even throwing more people up top in the box to make it more crowded."

Parkland (11-2-1) had its fair share of opportunities to net goals. The Trojans outshot the Vikettes 12-2 in regulation.

Jess Wetherhold and Kiera Kaunas put pressure on Dana Kosman to force a couple of fingertip saves. Hannah Gombos also fired a shot just wide in the first half.

"We had some great looks, but the girls didn't finish tonight," said Haddad. "That's the bottom line. We probably had three or four really good looks at the net, but couldn't put them away."

Parkland tried all it could to mix and match different types of looks it gave to Central to force the pressure on their offensive third. The Trojans worked at switching the ball, and sending runners down the touch lines to cross into the 18 and hope for volleys.

"Thirty one of our 60 goals this year came from flank services," said Haddad. "We try to work the corner services. We have a high advantage in corners taken. That's when you're hitting the defense the most. If you come down centrally, the defenses can attack you easier; the game is in front of them. You have to get to the flanks, and that's what we've been trying to do all season, and especially in a game like this.

"I think we had the looks to win the game, but it was one of those nights where it doesn't go into the back of the net."

In the overtime periods, Parkland's best chances came off two crosses from Gombos to Kaunas, who trapped it, but volleyed high and wide, respectively.

The Trojans are in the home stretch of the season with four games remaining against LVC opponents Easton, Nazareth, Northampton and a finale at rival Whitehall.

"I told the girls as soon as they walk off this field tonight this game is over," Haddad said. "We move forward to Easton, which I know is a tough game. I think we can finish off well. This doesn't help us, but it doesn't hurt us either."