Looking at the scoreboard at halftime, it showed Emmaus 6, Parkland 7.

Just a one-goal game, which was unusual for the Trojans girls lacrosse team this year. By halftime, they have seemingly had the game in hand already. But this rivalry always brings out the best in both teams.

A back-and-forth first half, with a couple of lead changes saw the score at 7-6 at intermission. But an offensive outburst from Parkland, with 13 goals scored in the second half gave them a much more relaxed victory, 20-9 last Tuesday night in the rainy conditions at Emmaus High School's Memorial Field.

"We worked well as a team and had a lot of good transition in our attack," said forward Sarah Staggard. "We just seemed to be able to use what coach Dawn [Cippola] told us at halftime, and put it all together. This was a tough opponent, so we knew we had to all play better."

Staggard, along with senior Sophia Castillo paced Parkland offensively. And they each had to step up even more with the absence of senior midfielder Mackenzie Galli because of injury. Galli was injured one game earlier against Easton.

"We're upset Mackenzie got hurt because she is a big part of our team," said Staggard. "We all stepped up and played well tonight. We just wanted to win this one for Mack because she is upset she couldn't play against Emmaus."

Staggard had a season-high five goals and three assists, and Castillo also tallied a season-best eight goals and an assist.

Castillo opened up the scoring just 40 seconds in, and was followed by Lexi Rice to give the Trojans a quick 2-0 lead. But that didn't last long.

Emmaus got two back from Paige Weaver and Destanee Watkins. Then Staggard and Cathleen Gaffney helped to bring another two-goal advantage, but once again the Green Hornets tied it back up with Mikelle Wills and Madalyn Dorn finding the back of the net.

There would be one more lead change, and just as it looked like Parkland was going to hold more than a goal edge into the second half, Tara Tracchio scored with just 19 seconds left to make it 7-6 at halftime.

In the second half, the Trojans wasted no time. Shannon Bushinsky, Castillo, Gaffney, and Staggard hit four straight for a five-goal lead. Emmaus would get three back to make it tight once again, but then Parkland scored the final 10 goals, as two freshman, Camryn Barnett and Abby Pope got onto the score sheet.