What a difference one half can make in a lacrosse game.

The Emmaus boys lacrosse team was leading Parkland 2-1 after the first quarter, and then trailed by one, 4-3 at halftime. But the next 24 minutes (two quarters) proved to be too much for the Green Hornets to overcome, as they did not find the back of the net again, and the Trojans scored seven more times, winning the rivalry game 11-3 last Thursday night at Memorial Field at Emmaus High School in Eastern Pennsylvania Conference action.

“Everything was working for us in the first half,” said Emmaus head coach Desi Gonzalez. “The only thing that wasn’t was No. 35 (James Cipolla) kept getting his hands free. He picked us apart a little bit. Outside of that, we matched up on every single one of their players. We wanted other guys to shoot, unfortunately No. 35 kept getting the ball and that’s who really took us apart.”

The junior Cipolla is an Ohio State University commit who has 34 goals and 24 assists in 12 games this season. He scored a game-high five goals for Parkland (10-3 overall, 8-1 EPC), and single-handedly outscored Emmaus (8-4, 7-2).

The Hornets scored first, and were the beneficiaries of two of the three goals scored by the two teams in the opening quarter. But a 15-minute drought allowed the Trojans to take the lead. Bennett Nakao, who led Emmaus with two goals, ended the scoring drought with a goal just 2.8 seconds left until halftime, as Emmaus trailed 4-3.

That would prove to be the last time the Hornets would find success on the offensive end as Nakao’s two and one from Hunter Krauss were the only goals scored by the Hornets. They were shutout in a half for the first time all season.

Parkland outshot Emmaus 21-9 in the game, but the key to the second half outburst by the Trojans was won in the middle of the field.

Andrew Albertson won 15 of the 18 faceoffs, which led to Parkland controlling most of the possession. The fourth quarter saw the Trojans add six of their seven second-half goals, as they found openings in the Emmaus zone.

“We need to regroup, work on some things and put a new plan going forward,” said Gonzalez. “We’re going to see them three more times at least, so hey, round one they won.”

Emmaus has three games this week. It hosted Central Catholic yesterday, travels to take on North Penn tomorrow night, and then welcomes Scotch Plains to Memorial Field on Saturday morning.