Six Trojan girls student-athletes competing in five different sports signed letters of intent recently at a ceremony at Parkland High School.

Field hockey goalie Gabrielle (Brie) Barraco has been in the cage for four seasons at Parkland.

Barraco was named to the 2017 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference First-Team, and earned MVP honors. She has 760 career saves and holds a 90 percent save percentage in her career. This past season, Barraco made 305 saves and recorded eight shutouts.

The senior chose Penn State University, during her sophomore year. She plans to major in kinesiology.

“My sister is up there for graduate school and I know some of the players, but it definitely felt like a big family,” said Barraco. “The coaches have said the best goalie will play. Right now we have a senior and a redshirt senior so I’m going to play hard and whatever happens, happens. If I don’t play as a freshman I’m definitely going to talk to them about redshirting.”

Barraco is a member of the U19 U.S. Women’s National Team, and would like to play in the Olympics one day. The dual-sport athlete was also a standout goalie on the lacrosse team at Parkland.

Soccer all-star Brooke Schutter will attend Division I Duquesne University. She intends to pursue a degree to become a pharmacist.

Schutter was a goal factory on the soccer field. The senior forward led the team in scoring all four years and has over 100 career goals. Last season, she was named the EPC MVP, scoring a school-record 35 goals, and adding 15 assists for a school-record of 85 points.

Schutter’s teammate and classmate Helen Flynn also had a decorated career on the soccer pitch at Parkland. She was a four-year starter and finished last season with 22 goals and 27 assists, including the game-winning goal in the District 11 4A Final.

Flynn was described by head coach Al Haddad as “the engine that makes Parkland go.” She will be attend Bloomsburg University and major in speech language pathology.

During their four year careers, Flynn and Schutter have an overall record of 90-7-2 and have won three district and four EPC championships.

“Every year as coaches we try to reload from the senior class we lose to graduation,” said Haddad. “But these two will be really hard to replace, I don’t know how well we will be able to do that.”

Mady Beaver came to Allentown from the state of Washington as a sophomore. Because Parkland was set at her natural position of setter, Beaver switched positions and was used where she could help the team win. She embraced the change and was named a team captain as a senior last season.

Beaver was part of a team that won leagues, districts, and was a state finalist during her time on the varsity level. She was part of a 120 consecutive league match win streak. She will be attend Bethel College in Indiana and major in elementary education with a minor in deaf communication.

“It was so surreal being a part of this team with some of my really good friends that I made here,” said Beaver. “My class was able to play behind some really good players, and we just wanted to keep that legacy going. It’s a great feeling that we knew it was our turn and our destiny that we kept it going.”

Julia Buchman was described as the best shooter to play at Parkland under current girls basketball head coach Wes Spence and his staff. She’s also unselfish and will give up the shot for an open teammate.

Buchman is a three-year starter for the Trojans team that is currently battling for EPC and District 11 6A gold this year. She will attend Mercyhurst University where she will major in finance.

“Julia is driven at all levels of life,” said Spence. “She is as good of a shooter that we’ve had, but is also unselfish and plays great defense as well. She doesn’t take any plays off and plays any role we need her to from 1-5.”

Kaitlyn Smykowski has put together a strong career even though she only started diving with the team in her sophomore season.

Her success led her to LaSalle University where she’ll major in speech therapy.

Smykowski’s trip to LaSalle came directly through Parkland High School when she was put in touch with the diving coach at LaSalle.

“Cary [Lehman] is my coach and he’s best friends with the LaSalle coach, and he kind of hooked me up,” said Smykowski. “When I went on the official visit I really felt good about the team and the campus; everyone was so friendly.”

That visit cemented her preference and put other schools she was considering, including Towson and Duquesne, on the back burner. It doesn’t hurt that LaSalle will give her the opportunity to experience being away from home with the ability to still return home for quick visits.

“I really didn’t have a preference [in terms of distance], but I love the city and I fell in love with Philadelphia and after I visited LaSalle, I pretty much knew I wanted to go there,” said Smykowski.

The Parkland senior is looking ahead to districts where she finished fourth last season. She took fifth in the EPC championship earlier this month. While she’s not quite sure what to expect at LaSalle, she is looking forward to the experience.

“I’m just sort of feeling it out,” said Smykowski. “I’ll most likely be diving my freshman year. I think I’m ready for a new challenge and to take on something new.”