Parkland opened the girls soccer season with a 3-1 win over Emmaus last week, with Brooke Schutter scoring two goals in the game. The Lady Trojans followed up the conference win over the Hornets with a 2-1 win over Governor Mifflin Saturday.

Senior Rachel Medlar scored a goal in both games for Parkland and Ava Hanna scored against Governor Mifflin.

Against Emmaus, Medlar and Schutter gave Parkland a 2-0 lead at the half and coach Al Haddad warned his players about what could happen in the next 40 minutes if they didn’t come out strong against the Hornets.

“Even at halftime, at 2-0, we told them that the next goal is a very important goal,” he said.

Sure enough, Emmaus (0-2, 0-2) came up with the next goal when Krysti Schmidt scored with 11:21 to play, cutting Parkland’s lead to 2-1. Emmaus nearly had a second goal on a strong header that was stopped by goalkeeper Julia Buchman to preserve Parkland’s lead.

“Julia came up with a monstrous save on that header,” said Haddad. “That was not a soft header. That was on frame and would have made it 2-2.

“I’m happy with how we played in that we did not play well at all, and we came away with a win. That gives them an understanding that we don’t have to be on our A-game to walk away with a good result.”

As Emmaus looked to tie the game, Schutter took a nice pass from Emily Piston and broke down the center of the field, with just goalkeeper Jess Harnett in front of her. Schutter fired the ball past Harnett.

“Brooke’s a nice player,” said Haddad. “You’re not all-state because you do it every once in a while. Brooke has the ability to score in the big games. A lot of girls score in the easier games. Brooke scores in the big games. She was disappointed that she didn’t finish on an earlier breakaway, but she got this one. She’s a sweet player.”

“I had a really good through ball from Emily,” said Schutter. “I knew I just needed to put that away to slow down their momentum and get us back to how we like to play.

“I think we just need to get in the flow, playing with new girls, and get back to where we were at the end of the season last year.”

Haddad believes his players sometimes try to do too much and look to make the perfect play, which hindered them at times against Emmaus. He wants them to focus more on simply doing what’s needed to win.

“They’re a very technically skilled team and because they train with precise passing, they’re going to try to do it here,” said Haddad. “I don’t have a problem with that, but our focus was to get it out on the flanks and they didn’t follow that and played back into Emmaus’ strengths in the central part and you can’t do that.

“They’re confident, and then that confidence is a double-edged sword. When they’re on, it’s great and when they’re off, it’s overconfidence.”