The Parkland girls soccer team loved the idea of squaring off against Whitehall in a meaningful game. The Trojans and Zephyrs battled in a double overtime classic last spring, and played in two games this year decided by one goal.

Hannah Gombos sent home two goals in the first seven minutes, and Parkland got some revenge on its recent pesky rivals, winning the Lehigh Valley Conference championship 3-2 last Thursday night at J Birney Crum stadium in Allentown.

"It definitely motivated us for the rest of the game," Gombos said on the early goals. "To have a lead right in the beginning pushed us and it may have gotten them down a little bit. It means a lot because we lost to them and tied them [this year]. We really wanted to come out and do it tonight. It's a great feeling to finally do it now."

The league title is the Trojans' second this year. Parkland (17-2-2) defeated Central Catholic in May before the girls soccer season moved to the fall season this year.

Whitehall's star player and league MVP, Kayla Cunningham is dangerous whenever the ball is at her feet. Not even two minutes in, Cunningham, not shy about shooting, ripped a shot from about 30 yards out that was pulled into the chest of Becky Webster.

The Trojans saw their first good look on goal cling off the crossbar from the right foot of Jill O'Connell. But Parkland broke through with 34:41 left in the first half. Kiera Kaunas slotted a pass onto the feet of Gombos, who coolly slid a low shot into the bottom left corner of the net.

A little over a minute later, Jess Wetherhold stripped the ball away from a Zephyr defender and found Kaunas. Kaunas took one dribble past a defender and as the ball rolled in front of her, Gombos hit the ball with the inside of her foot for her second goal of the match and a commanding two-goal lead.

"We started off strong," said Kaunas. "We knew it was a big game so we came out with a lot of enthusiasm. We tried to take it to them right from the beginning and we did. We scored two goals within the first eight minutes. We just tried to work really hard and get past their defense, and that led to the goals."

From there the Trojans didn't give Cunningham any room to breathe when she possessed the ball. Whitehall (16-2-1) tried moving her from sideline to sideline, but to no avail.

The Zephyrs held the advantage in shots 14-13 and Webster was forced to make a couple of nice saves over the course of the game. She ended with seven stops.

The biggest save may have come from the defense in front of her. Cunningham took a second half corner kick that was headed towards the goal. Senior back Sierra Derti stood tall on the line and cleared it away to prevent any further damage.

"They [the defense] worked really hard," said Kaunas. "We worked on stopping Kayla Cunningham. We didn't man-mark her, but we tried to clear the ball and work it to our forwards."

It was another Kayla, Kayla Haberbosch, that tallied the third Parkland goal with 11:18 remaining. As she was being shielded in front of the Zephyrs net, Haberbosch went through the defender and poked a shot by Kelsey Himmelwright.

The Trojans could only contain her for so long, however. Cunningham found her touch with 6:51 to go and got one back for Whitehall. Four minutes later, the Zephyrs pulled within a goal with a strike from Milena Nino. It was a late push that put some pressure on head coach Al Haddad and his team, but once the final whistle blew, the Trojans celebrated a well-deserved victory.

Parkland will now be the top seed heading into the District 11 tournament this week.

"We're definitely going to be practicing really hard because we want to keep out motivation going," said Gombos.