Parkland has won 11 of the 12 EPC titles in girls soccer since the conference was established in the 2014-2015 season. That history and the third-seeded Trojans were Northampton’s opponents Tuesday night as the K-Kids traveled to Orefield to compete in the quarterfinals of the 2026 EPC tournament.

After the two teams failed to score 80 minutes of regulation, they settled things with penalty kicks. Parkland took the shootout 3-2 with Abigail Bareither booting home the winner on Parkland’s fifth kick to break a 2-2 tie. Per the new rules this season, no overtime periods are played in the EPC soccer tournament. There will be overtime, if needed, in districts before resorting to a shootout.

Neither goalkeeper was tested in the first half. Parkland had a bit more pressure, forcing 4 corner kicks, but nothing dramatic came of them.

Things picked up a bit in the second half.

The K-Kids Alayna Hahn forced the first good save of the night sending Hanna Hertzog diving to her right to stop a shot launched from just outside the 18-yard box.

Northampton keeper Grace Caulwell made a couple of tough saves as well, but Parkland’s best scoring chances never made it on net.

Midway through the second half, Kids’ defender Lina Gougoustamos raced back to break up a developing 2-on-1 that failed to get the ball on frame.

With a little over a minute left in regulation, Caulwell came out of goal to play a ball near the top of the penalty area. A collision ensued with no penalty, leaving the Northampton goal undefended. Gougoustamos was able to extricate the ball from the scrum and clear it to preserve the nil-nil score.

The K-Kids went first in PKs. Hertzog saved the first two Kids’ attempts. Meanwhile, the Trojans converted both of theirs, putting Northampton down 2-0.

Freshman Allyson Hayes went top-right corner to get the Kids on the board and Caulwell saved the third Parkland shot to cut the deficit to 2-1.

After another Hertzog save, a potential game-winner by the Trojans was hit high over the crossbar.

Lilly Schlittler banged home the K-Kids’ fifth attempt to keep them alive at 2-2, but in the end it was to no avail.

“It was even match and obviously it came down to penalty shots,” explained head coach Trojano Bastidas. “It’s a heartbreaker, but we played very well, defended very well. We worked on PKs going into this and I think we’ll have to practice more PKs.”

The next chance to shoot PKs for real could come as early as Wednesday when the District XI 4A quarterfinals take place. Northampton is also seeded sixth in districts and is aligned to face Parkland again. However, the EPC champion automatically gets the top seed, so if the Trojans add to their trophy case, Emmaus will get bumped down to the third seed.