The Parkland field hockey team has been led by senior players on each facet of the field. The Trojans feature Sydney Cope in goal, Macy Talheim at defense, Hannah Pany in the midfield, and Avery Semler and Brooke Sherwin up top as forwards.

The senior leadership has been there as all five are on the field and leading Parkland (7-3-1) to some early season wins. But it was two sophomores that shone bright on the grass field at Parkland High School last Monday afternoon.

Grace Royer and Brynn Lansenderfer scored the only goals for the Trojans in a 2-1 win over a dangerous team in Pocono Mountain East (8-2).

"We have five sophomores starting," said head coach Michelle Steele. "It's awesome because I got a lot of them in to play last year as freshman, so that helps make them comfortable. They can just slide in there and be comfortable. They're playing hard and learning from their mistakes."

Royer's goal in the first half came off an assist from freshman Allie Bianco to give Parkland a 1-0 lead.

In the second half, the Cardinals put some pressure on goal early on, and it paid off with a tying goal from Emily Alker.

But the Trojans would not let up, and it started with the tenacity of Semler up front and the control of the midfield by Pany.

On a corner, Pany hit a shot towards the goal that took a deflection off the stick of Lansenderfer for the game-winning goal.

"There was a girl in front of me and I could see the ball coming off my left side," said Lansenderfer. "I reversed my stick to try and get a touch onto the ball to help it in. We knew it was going to be a tough game, but we worked hard at practice and it's good to win this one."

Parkland is coming off wins against East Stroudsburg North and Lehighton, and a defeat to Stroudsburg. With only a couple of divisional games under their belts, Steele finds some advantages to playing these newer teams in the new conference.

"It's good to see these kind of teams," noted Steele. "They're good, aggressive teams that have a lot of skill."

With Nazareth and Whitehall coming up this week, followed by four final games against divisional opponents, the Trojans will look to take some momentum from this one.

"We have to play the same against every team and play hard every day," added Steele. "These next games are very important for us, only having two divisional games so far."