Parkland’s Morgan Hurd missed much of the 2018 girls lacrosse regular season with a broken wrist. She was able to return for the Trojans’ postseason run that included a district title, but Hurd still admits sitting on the sidelines was tough.

It seems as if the Trojan senior attacker is making up for lost time early this spring.

Hurd scored a game-high five goals as the Trojans jumped out to a big lead over Emmaus, and then cruised to an 18-8 victory on Saturday at Parkland High School. Parkland scored the first nine goals-four coming from Hurd-and led 11-1 late in the first half.

“It gives us a lot of confidence in the fact that it’s not just one of us scoring, or two of us,” Hurd said. “It’s the whole entire attack. Our attack is very strong. Keeping possession like that keeps us in the game.”

“The fast start is great in any game,” said head coach Dawn Cipolla. “I’m very happy with them. We are going to build on each game. They are listening and they are doing what we ask of them. They are being unselfish out there.”

Hurd’s fourth goal made it a 9-0 Trojan advantage with 4:46 left in the opening half. But it wasn’t just her making an impact offensively.

Freshman midfielder Kaz Kennedy was one of five other Trojans to score in that quick 9-0 spurt. Emily Leiby (four goals), Jill Bushinsky, Maeve Leonzi and Kenzie Roth, who scored her 108th career goal, were the other goal-scorers.

Hurd believes this is one of the more well-rounded teams she’s been a part of.

“Each year I feel we get [more well-rounded],” Hurd said. “But this year, this team is something different. We’re a very strong team both offensively and defensively.

“Honestly our whole attack has been getting the ball in the back of the net at different times of different games.”

Emmaus gained a bit of momentum as the first half wound down. After Taylor O’Brien scored with just over three minutes remaining in half to halt Parkland’s 9-0 run, the Hornets closed out the half with two goals in the final 10 seconds. Grace Hall and Kaitlyn Csensits made it an 11-3 Trojan lead going into intermission.

The Hornets then seemed to have found a recipe for success early after intermission by opening the second half on a 3-0 run of their own. A goal from O’Brien got the Hornets within 11-6 with 16:31 to play.

But Kennedy scored two of the next four Parkland goals to seemingly put Emmaus out of reach at 15-6 with 9:23 left on the clock.

“They definitely had a different mindset to the second half,” Hurd said. “I think they got the draw a lot more. I don’t think it worried us because once we got the ball, we knew to just keep possession and to take smart shots.”

Leiby, Erika Steele and Erin Heimbecker rounded out the rest of Parkland’s scorers.