The Parkland Lady Trojans came into their Eastern Pennsylvania Conference semifinal game with Emmaus as the only team to have scored against the Hornets in two games this season. They were also the only team to put a dent in the Hornets record when they played them to a 1-1 tie in the first regular season meeting between the two teams. Unfortunately, they weren't able to cash in either of those two accomplishments and lost to Emmaus 6-1 in Tuesday's semifinals.

While the score might not indicate it, Parkland actually had plenty of chances and spent its fair share of time directly in front of the Emmaus goal. Parkland was also not without strong performances, as Cozette El-Kik was able to work her way through the Emmaus defense on a regular basis and Hannah Pany scored the only goal of the game for the Trojans.

"We just didn't come with our best game," said Parkland head coach Michelle Steele. "It's unfortunate. Some of our kids played their hearts out, but you've got to have 11 strong out there that play their hearts out. We had opportunities. We had plenty of opportunities. We've just got to take advantage of those."

One missed opportunity came when Parkland was awarded a penalty stroke late in the game and Avery Semler fired a strong shot that beat goalie Tori Laczo, but just hit off the goal post and bounced off to the side, rolling harmlessly away from the goal.

While their quest for an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship came to an end, the Lady Trojans (11-6-2) will be back in action next week in the district playoffs. The district brackets won't be determined until after the conference playoffs are completed, but it's very possible that Parkland and Emmaus could wind up facing each other for a fourth time in the District 11 Tournament. Between now and the time they take the field for their first round game, Steele believes there are some things to work on to make the team stronger and put them in a position to compete in districts.

"The mental aspect of the game," she said. "We need to continue to practice and work on the little things, little parts of the game. It's tough to be a grass team playing on turf. It's a fast game, a very fast game compared to grass, but we don't make excuses. We're just going to have to practice hard and then play hard."

Unfortunately for Parkland, district games are also played on turf. Most teams in the area do play on turf fields, which not only speeds up the pace of the game, but also provided truer bounces. There has been some discussion about converting Parkland's facility to turf, which would put not only the field hockey team, but the soccer teams on more of an equal footing with other high schools in the area.