The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference boys soccer semifinal game between Parkland and Freedom was barely under way when the Trojans hit their first goal of the night that made it look like it might be a long night for the Patriots. Instead, Freedom kept Parkland at bay and it would be another 42 minutes until the Trojans scored again.

When all was said and done, Parkland advanced with a 2-1 win over Freedom in a game that got pretty testy at times, especially in the second half.

Much to their credit, Parkland’s players and coaches remained level-headed while Freedom became its own worst enemy. Two players and the head coach for Freedom received yellow cards, including goalie Zach Raffino, who was sitting out his penalty when Josh Kiser scored Parkland’s second goal of the night.

“Bethlehem boys always play a physical game, both Liberty and Freedom,” said Parkland head coach Pat Birns. “We played them the first time and it was 1-0 and they’re a physical team.

“We felt we would be able to stretch them out a little bit and we did at times, the first 10 minutes and then the second 10 were good and we felt comfortable 2-0 and then they got that goal.”

The goal, scored by Brad Turocy, was somewhat disputed. Both Birns and goalie Jacob Varrato said that they thought they heard a whistle before the goal scored, but the ball wound up in the back of the net and Freedom had cut it to a one-goal game. As Varrato went to retrieve the ball from the back of the net, he was physically challenged by Freedom’s Ben Reich, but Varrato wisely didn’t react to the challenge.

“We kind of panicked a little bit,” said Birns. “Which was strange to see because the boys really haven’t done that all year when we’ve been scored on. Against East Stroudsburg South, they tied it up twice and we really didn’t panic, but this time they panicked.”

The scoring started just 3:13 into the game. With a group of players directly in front of the net, the goal was awarded to Connor Burke with the assist going to Dawson Berger. After the game, Burke set the record straight.

“I saw it go over everybody and come toward me and I thought ‘this is mine,’” he said. “But it crossed the line. It was Dawson who scored the goal, but I’m just glad we got one early.”

The game wasn’t the usual Parkland performance, not just because Birns thought they panicked, but because usually Parkland takes advantage of early goals and builds on them quickly. This time, it took a while for the Trojans to get back into scoring mode.

“Usually we’re really intense, but sometimes to start a game we’re kind of lackadaisical,” said Burke. “Today we came out strong and scored one quick.”

The win sets up a third game of the season with Emmaus, which downed East Stroudsburg South in the other semifinal matchup. The two rivals are used to playing each other many times throughout a season, which is something that Birns would like to get away from.

“I think the way that the [athletic directors] have this league set up, the unfortunate part is that we’re playing Emmaus four times a year,” said Birns. “There hasn’t been a year where we haven’t played them three times. Hopefully, they can fix that, but it doesn’t look like they’re willing to just play everybody once and that’s unfortunate for the kids.”

Parkland won the two regular season meetings with Emmaus and will play for the league championship tonight. While Birns doesn’t like the idea of the two teams facing each other so often, he does enjoy the rivalry. He also enjoys the gentle ribbing that he both endures and dishes out during his workweek as a gym teacher at Emmaus.

“It’s going to make for a fun time tomorrow [Wednesday] at work, and then Thursday and Friday for game day and the next day after,” said Birns. “No matter who wins, it always makes for fun.”