Momentum shifted in the wrong direction for the Parkland High School girls soccer team in the second half of its latest game, but the Trojans buckled down and prevented any further damage. Parkland scored two first-half goals and then gave up one in the second, but held on to defeat Nazareth 2-1 last Thursday evening in the District 11 Class 4A championship game at Whitehall High School.

It was the second consecutive district title for the Trojans (19-2-1 overall), and second in-a-row beating the Blue Eagles (16-5-1) in the final. Parkland has also now won six of the last seven district championships.

“Everyone’s a new one, especially since we lost nine starters off of last year’s team,” said Trojan head coach Al Haddad. “For it to come through the way it’s come through for us this year in the playoffs starting to find the back of the net, we were creating scoring opportunities all season long and not finishing, then we started to put them in. I thought we’d get more tonight, the way it started to flow there for a while. I was really happy with our performance in the first half.”

Junior Olivia Kunz delivered the game’s opening goal on a left-footed blast past Nazareth goalie Kelly Leszynski to put Parkland out in front 1-0 with 15:10 left in the first half. The goal came from the left part of the field and Kunz took a couple of dribbles past a Blue Eagles defender after receiving a pass from Aristea Gougoustamos.

“Aristea gave me the ball in the middle of the field, and it was a beautiful ball,” said Kunz. “I took it up and honestly I just remember my coach and my teammates telling me to shoot. I just went for it. I think it was a lucky shot, it went in. A lot of the time when the ball is on the right-hand side, the left is really weak. The whole defense on the opposite team goes over there so the left-hand side is usually pretty open. We noticed if you switched the ball, it’s pretty much an open flank. We utilize that a lot.”

Kunz just missed doubling her team’s lead and her scoring total on the night just 6:15 after her first goal. A cross came into the 18-yard box and Kunz got a right foot on it, but the shot was blocked away by the goalie. Mariana Abuele-Gonzalez was in the right place at the right time and finished off the rebound for Parkland’s second goal and a 2-0 lead.

After a quiet first half, Nazareth woke up in the second. Kayley Hynes put a lot of pressure on the Trojan defense for the first 15-plus minutes before she broke through and scored her team’s first goal with 20:28 remaining. All of a sudden, the Blue Eagles had momentum and were using it to create scoring chances that they didn’t have in the first half.

Parkland goalie Sophie Frank and her defense, though, kept Nazareth out of goal the rest of the way. Frank finished with one save, playing in just the second half after Kayla McNevin started the game and was not forced to make a save in the first half.

Parkland will now host District One’s fourth seed at Parkland High School on Tuesday evening.