In its last two games, the Parkland girls soccer team could have saved a lot of time and energy by just going straight to penalty kicks. In both of those games, the Lady Trojans toiled through 100 minutes of soccer, only to have the game decided on penalty kicks, and on both occasions, they came out on top.

The first penalty kick win came over Easton in the semifinals of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Tournament. The most recent win came over Whitehall when Jenn Guetzlaff put the clinching shot past Zephyr goalie Kourtney Cunningham for a 4-2 win in kicks. The victory gave the Parkland girls the inaugural EPC championship.

Teams are more used to seeing Cunningham score goals rather than trying to stop them and Cunningham was the one that tied the game to send it into overtime when she got a shot past goalkeeper Becky Webster with 28:43 left to play in the game. When the two teams couldn't decide the game in two overtimes, they went into the penalty kick phase, with Cunningham donning the goalie's jersey. Whitehall coach Dave Weitzman had given Cunningham some instruction in goal during the week in anticipation of potentially needing someone to step in a crucial situation.

In regulation, it was Rachel Laird who put on the show, scoring both of Parkland's goals. Hoever, each time Laird scored, Whitehall battled back to tie the game. Whitehall almost took a 3-2 lead with 15:40 left in regulation, but a shot from Cunningham went off the top of the net. Much of the game was played in varying amounts of rain that sometimes stopped only to come pouring down a short while later. Neither team seemed to notice or allow it to affect their game.

"I like playing in the rain," laughed Laird, holding the gold medal. "I definitely think that playing in the rain brought up our intensity, although it also made the ball slicker and harder to play with. It just kept our head in the game and we knew what we had to do and we executed."

In the penalty kick phase, all four of Parklands shooters - Janelle Barna, Emily Piston, McKenna Stengel and Guetzlaff - scored, while Webster allowed just two of the four Whitehall players to score. Even though it comes down to just a kicker and a goalie, Webster was still quick to credit her teammates for the win.

"It's a lot of pressure," said Webster. "We know that if we lose in PKs, it's no one's fault and if we win in PKs, it's no one's victory; we do it as a team, together."

Overall, Trojan head coach Al Haddad was happy with how his team played and with the fact that it appears to be peaking at just the right time.

"We bent, but we didn't break," he said. "I thought we played our best soccer in both overtimes. I thought we completely controlled both overtimes. We had a number of chances, with that ball bouncing literally inches from the goal line at times and how it didn't go in is beyond me.

"I thought it was a really well-played game. If you look at what we did in the last week, we beat Whitehall three times in 10 days and then you throw Nazareth in there and you throw Central in there and Easton, so I think we're playing good soccer right now and it's coming at a good time."

Haddad was quick to note how strong Laird played and how she constantly battles to make the team better.

"She's so determined to get the job done and she just wants to help," said Haddad. "She works really hard and that athleticism comes into play, especially on that second goal, that athleticism really came into play."

The win gave Parkland its fourth league title over the past seven years and made it 3-3 over that stretch in league championship games. The Lady Trojans are the top seed in the District 11 Tournament and have a first-round bye. They'll open play Thursday at home against the winner of the Pottsville and Pocono Mountain West game. There is a potential rematch with Whitehall in the semifinal round, should both teams win their quarterfinal games.