The game time temperature is a chilly 49 degrees. The stands are sprinkled with patrons sporting winter jackets, gloves and scarves.

That was the scene at Nazareth High School just moments before the opening faceoff of the Lehigh Valley Conference girls' lacrosse championship between the No. 1 seeded Parkland Trojans and the No. 3 seed Emmaus Green Hornets.

Emmaus (10-10) won that opening faceoff, but they fell just short of Parkland (16-4) when the final buzzer sounded and the scoreboard displayed a score of 12-11 in favor of the Trojans.

"In the beginning we were a little unsettled," said Green Hornets head coach. "We had bad passes and our offense was a little shaky. Then we calmed down."

The Hornets' defense let a few early shots pass between the posts, but the offense kept them alive. All five of their first-half goals were scored by senior Kaitlyn Wills and junior Samantha Abel as they netted three and two, respectively. Every score was unassisted except for Wills' first as junior Annie Kennedy helped on that one.

Heading in to halftime the Lady Hornets was still alive as they were only facing a one-goal deficit with the score 6-5.

Emmaus opened the second half with some early goals by the same duo of Wills and Abel. Unfortunately for those two upperclassmen the Trojans countered with their own terrific twosome of Sophia Castillo and Kelsey Carlon. They combined for nine of Parkland's 12 goals and eight of the team's nine assists.

The game went back and forth for the greater part of the second half. A goal by Parkland's Lauren Kelly put the Trojans in the lead 9-8 with 12:26 remaining and prompted an Emmaus timeout.

On four different occasions were the Green Hornets down a player due to penalties and Parkland capitalized every time. DeBellis was disappointed in that fact.

"They did well in those situations," she said. "It is tough on the defense as they have to slide. We can't be in situations like that. It hurts the team."

Parkland took the lead 11-10 with 7:48 left in the match after a goal by Castillo. The Trojans never looked back and won after a buzzer-beating score by Emmaus' Tara Tracchio brought the final tally to 12-11.

After the game with her silver medal and first team all-league plaque in hand, Abel reflected on the title game and looked ahead to districts where the Green Hornets will face Easton.

"We force a lot of things sometimes," she said. "That definitely kills us. Once we make sure that we get those passes down, we will be fine. Also in those transitions we are forcing a lot of things. If we can fix those two things we will be solid."