The Parkland High School field hockey team is looking to finally climb the mountain and defeat Emmaus for a championship.

Trojan head coach Julie Nelson challenged her team with a difficult schedule in 2025.

The Trojans finished 18-7 overall and 11-2 in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, finishing runner-up in the District 11 3A tournament and winning their opening game in the state playoffs.

“This season tested us early on, but that was my hope,” said Nelson. “We are a great team, but we are tired of falling in second. I made the schedule more difficult this year with teams outside of our conference and district. We had a lot of off field battles this year that my team persevered through and still found success in the later part of the season.”

After taking down Stroudsburg in the district quarterfinal round and upsetting the third seed, Easton, in the semifinals, third-seeded Parkland fell just short of beating the Green Hornets in the final, losing 1-0.

“We are always thankful and happy to participate in any final or state playoff,” said Nelson. “But because of our opponents throughout the year, we were less surprised by the level of competition and felt more prepared to play difficult teams. We are closing the gap on Emmaus and that is always the goal. The amount of positive feedback we received after the district championship was overwhelming.”

The Trojans then defeated the District 1’s third-place team, Methacton, 2-1 in the first round of states before dropping the quarterfinal 3-0 to Penn Manor, the District 3 champ.

It was the second time the team has won a state playoff game under Nelson.

“I think the opponents are difficult, but I don’t think the score depicted how our teams matched up,” said Nelson. “We had a difficult time with referees and also the high stress of a state game. I don’t think my players showed up to the quarterfinals with their best foot forward. We did not play the way we typically play and the frantic way we played allowed the other team to capitalize. We got 6-7 cards throughout the game, one of which being a 10-minute yellow card.”

Five seniors will graduate from the program, including Avrie Arnfeldt, Cecilia Kleckner, Emily Laputka, Jenna Mayer and Taylor Sanders.

That leaves a ton of talent and experience returning for the 2026 season, where they hope to finally break through.

“I am excited for next season because we are losing three starters, however we have underclassmen who are prepared to step up to those positions,” said Nelson. “We will be a very similar team next year and we will remain competitive. It will be the same team I had this year with just another indoor season and summer season under their belts to improve their skills and communication with each other.

“We were contenders for first place this year and I’m confident we will be next year also.”

CORRECTION: Avrie Arnfeldt’s name was spelled incorrectly in last week’s Press.