Many successful coaches are known for their fiery, impassioned half-time speeches. Other successful coaches know when to back off and let their players take over. That’s exactly what Al Haddad did with his team after a lackluster first half against Northampton (2-2, 3-2).

While the Lady Trojans held a 2-0 lead, there were problems with how the team was playing and Haddad let the players figure that out for themselves at the break. The result was a 7-0 win over the Konkrete Kids.

“They [Northampton] were more organized in the first half and we made it easy on them because we were just coming down the middle and dribbling and you can’t do that,” said Haddad. “The girls made the adjustments at halftime on their own. We didn’t talk to them at halftime. This was a situation where we wanted them to show us what they understand, so we said ‘go talk and tell us what you’re going to fix.’

“All of a sudden we started playing two-touch soccer, got out on the flank and the goals started to come. That’s a good sign for a coach when the team can make those changes on its own.”

The change disrupted Northampton’s defense and Parkland senior Brooke Schutter scored twice, while fellow seniors Helen Flynn and Kat Olenwine also scored. Freshman Alexis Marsteller also joined the scoring barrage in the second half for Parkland. Jenna Leonzi and Gia Litz had first half goals for the Lady Trojans. With seniors taking the lead at halftime and in the final 40 minutes of play, Parkland (4-0, 4-0) looked more like its old self.

“When you get your seniors to be teaching out on the field – Darian [Brickhouse] in the back, Brooke [Schutter] up top and Helen [Flynn] in the middle – we’ve got three leading seniors right through the middle of the field that are verbal and communicate with the girls,” said Haddad. “They’ve got the ability to have a little bark with their tongue too, and the girls are dealing with it, and that’s hard sometimes, but it’s important.”

Throughout the game, Haddad mixed in younger players, who were able to keep up well with the regulars and keep Parkland on the attack.

“All 25 played today and all 25 played quality minutes,” said Haddad. “That’s our goal for every game. We don’t take kids to practice, we take kids because we believe that we can develop them and they can contribute and that’s the most important thing. We feel that it’s very important that they get in.”

The younger players took a little time to get acclimated and fit into the roles that they’re expected to fill with Parkland, but they’re quickly gaining experience thanks to the regular playing time.

The result is that Haddad can mix and match players without seeing much of a drop off in the ability or the approach to how the game is played.

“In the Emmaus game and in our scrimmages,” said Haddad, “there was a huge change in the flow, so we worked with them because they have to understand that we’re only as good as how deep our bench goes and we expect the flow to stay.

“Sometimes, when you make bigger substitutions, there’s going to be a flow change, so we try to move them in a little slower, but we also make sure they understand their responsibility and they’re doing a really good job.”

Parkland wraps up the week with a game at Dieruff (0-4, 0-4) and follows that up with a nonconference game at North Penn Saturday. On Tuesday, Easton (5-0, 5-0) comes to Parkland for a showdown between two of the better teams in the EPC.