The road for the Parkland boys soccer team to defend its LVC title would have to go through a familiar foe in Northampton, who they defeated 2-0 a week ago.

After a scoreless first half of Tuesday's Lehigh Valley Conference boys soccer semifinals at Whitehall Zephyrs Sports Complex, the top-seeded Trojans wasted no time in the final 40 minutes. It took the Trojans just 1:44 to get on the scoreboard when junior Belal Mohammed connected on a Dylan Engel through ball on the first of two consecutive Trojan goals.

The No. 4 seed Konkrete Kids got a goal with over eight minutes remaining from Julian Santos, but that's all Northampton would be able get on goal. And the Trojans advanced to the conference finals Thursday with a 2-1 victory.

"The defender looked like he just let it through," said Mohammed. "I read that and just ran onto it. I was taught to go against the grain [and] go the opposite way because the goalie would come with me. So I just shot it the other way."

While the offense failed to record a goal in the first half despite tallying 11 shots on goal, the Trojans (15-0-3) got their second goal after halftime a little more than 10 minutes after their first.

After an initial Trojan shot was saved by Northampton goalkeeper Austin Cooper, senior Nick Hutchinson was there to connect on the rebound opportunity. His goal with 26:37 proved to be too much for the Konkrete Kids (9-8-2) to overcome. It was Hutchinson's fourth tally of the season.

"I think we wanted to get wider [in the second half]," said head coach Patrick Birns. "This is a big field and we weren't wide enough. As soon as you started getting wide enough the channels started to open up which happened to result in us scoring goals."

"The forwards, we were supposed to be withdrawn in the first half," said Mohammed. "And [Birns] told us in the second half to go up. That helped us a lot when the forwards were higher up in the second half."

The Trojan defense who had allowed just five conference goals all season before Tuesday's contest was stingy for much of the evening. The Konkrete Kids totaled just three shots on goal for the game to go along with their late goal.

"We've preached all year that our defense starts with 10 guys on the field," said Birns. "And even with that lapse we left our four backs out to hang instead of defending with all 10 of us. Today we didn't defend very well from our forwards.

"I think the reason why we've done so well with our goals against is because we've played great team defense rather than just the back four."

The Trojans will take on rival Emmaus in the championship game on Thursday night at J. Birney Crum at 7 p.m.

"I think the goal is to defend your league title," said Birns. "We're back there and they're excited about it. And now that you're back there, that's half the battle, and hopefully we can come away with a win on Thursday."