Penalty kick the difference as Parkland edges Nazareth
Trojans fire 11 shots on goal without scoring, come away with win
If not for one moment of frustration, Nazareth and Parkland may have had to play a lot longer to decide their soccer match Monday night at Parkland High School.
The two teams were in a scoreless tie with 25:56 left in regulation when a blatant foul in the box gave the Trojans a penalty kick that turned out to be the only score of the game as Parkland remained undefeated in the EPC with a 1-0 win over the Blue Eagles.
Ironically, Parkland was the team that had reason to be frustrated as it had 11 shots but were unable to convert on any of them until the penalty kick. They also had a beautifully setup goal called off because of an offside penalty. That came when Bryce Peters passed up taking a shot from the left side of the goal and instead, centered the ball to Kyle Tobia, who had an open look at the net and made the shot.
The goal was quickly waved off because of the penalty. That came just minutes after Sam Masenheimer had found Caleb Daniels wide open in front of the net, but Daniels’ shot went over the crossbar.
Nazareth goalie Noah Borger turned in a stellar performance with a number of athletic saves to turn away potential goals. In the early minutes of the second half, Tobia fired a shot, but Borger made a diving save to keep the game scoreless.
Parkland put together a string of crisp passes that left Masenheimer one-on-one against Borger until Alex Roberts pulled down Masenheimer in the box. The referees gave Roberts a red card and awarded Parkland the penalty kick. During the timeout as referees got the situation under control, Masenheimer and Borger stood side-by-side having a conversation prior to the shot.
“It was friendly, but there was a little trash-talking,” Masenheimer said. “I think maybe he was trying to unsteady me a bit, but it was fine, I can handle that.”
Masenheimer handled it perfectly and put the ball to Borger’s left and just out of his reach for what would be the only goal of the game.
“The first thing I do on a penalty kick is just clear my head and decide where I’m going to go and
make sure I put it hard enough to beat the keeper,” Masenheimer said of his approach on the kick.
The physical play continued, and Parkland’s Logan Baltz was given a yellow card, but tempers lowered, and the two teams went back to a cleaner, but physical type of game. Parkland coach Scott Mang was not too concerned about the number of opportunities that the Trojans were unable to finish and credited Nazareth for its play.
“They’re a good team and they played well. They’re organized and kept their shape nice and pressed us all over the field,” Mang said of the Blue Eagles. “I thought we kept possession pretty well and we passed it all over the place.”
He pointed out that his team has tried to put in a couple different looks along the way to keep opponents guessing about what they see against them.
“We’re playing some really good teams and it’s taking longer to get some goals than it did earlier in the year. Everyone is watching tapes, watching this, watching formations and the teams come in wellcoached and they have a plan,” Mang said. “Against Whitehall and again [Monday], we threw in a little wrinkle. There are still kids working their way into the lineup, but we’re not going to really change too much of what we do, because it’s working.”
Looking back
The only loss on Parkland’s record came against Conestoga, a perennial favorite from District 1. The Trojans have won 21 straight games against EPC opponents dating back to a year ago when they lost their only regular season game to Nazareth, 2-1, on their way to a 24-2-1 record with an EPC and District 11 championship.
Looking ahead
Parkland (16-0-0 EPC, 16-1-0 overall) faces rival Emmaus (14-01, 15-1-1) Wednesday night in the regular season finale to decide the top seed in the league playoffs. Meanwhile, Nazareth (9-6-1, 10-6-1) needs to beat Easton (7-72, 7-7-2) to guarantee a spot in the EPC playoffs. The Eagles are sixth in an eight-team playoff scramble and can still qualify with a tie or loss, but it opens the door for Pleasant Valley, Whitehall, and Central Catholic to potentially move ahead of them.