ALLENTOWN - Following the opening 15 minutes of play, the Northwestern boys lacrosse team looked primed to pull an upset.

The Tigers led powerful Parkland 2-0 early in the second quarter and were playing at the top of their game, while stunning the Trojans in the process.

Parkland showed its depth and talent, however, as it scored nine goals in the second and third quarters to take the nonconference game 11-7 on Tuesday.

Northwestern head coach Marcus Janda isn’t into moral victories, but this could be viewed as one of them, his team leading early and then even after going down 11-2 in the fourth quarter, fought back to make it more respectable.

“We’re confident enough that we can play with anyone,” said Janda. “That’s the belief you have to have as a program, especially when you’re playing against a talented and established program like Parkland. These guys came into this game confident. We’ve been working hard and playing well lately, and I told them that they can play with anybody.”

Both teams threatened on the offensive ends of the field, and nine total shots combined from the two teams were recorded before the opening goal. Sabo broke the deadlock with 2:57 left in the opening quarter, and then Blaine Snyder opened the second quarter with a goal to put the Tigers ahead 2-0.

“The first five minutes of the game usually dictates how the game is going to go,” Janda said. “We had a great opening the first couple of minutes, and were in it for a while. Parkland just showed its talent there in the second and third quarters.

“They have a face off guy (Matt Barraco) that wins almost every face off. That puts your defense in a tough spot then since they keep a lot of the possession and scoring opportunities.”

Parkland, which improved to 7-0, got on the scoreboard with a goal at the 9:09 mark, but Sabo answered for the Tigers to make it 3-1. The Trojans, however, tallied four unanswered heading to halftime and then won the third quarter 4-0.

“They’ve got a great team over there,” said Parkland head coach Mike Bender. “They came in here and gave us their all. It was a great game. They really pushed us and made us work hard, and that’s exactly what we want. This game will make us a better team.”

Sabo netted three times in the fourth, and Austin Sosnovik found the back of the net as Northwestern found late life in the fourth.

Almost at the halfway mark of the regular season, the Tigers are at .500 overall (4-4) with plenty to play for.

“We’re in a good spot,” said Janda. “We’re 4-4 and have a couple of games (against Colonial League teams) coming up. We played some challenging nonconference games that will help us in the long run.

“Our goal is to qualify for districts and we’re right there, sitting in the two seed right now behind (defending District 11 champion) Central Catholic. We just need to forget about the score of this one and use it for our next game.”

EVEN STEVEN ... Shots were pretty even as Parkland held a 32-25 advantage. The Trojans simply used the little advantage they had to fill up the scoreboard more than the Tigers.

NUMBERS GAME ... Northwestern’s roster pales in comparison to Parkland’s, as the Tigers have 17 players listed officially while Parkland holds 42.

TARGET ON HIS BACK ... Janda noted that even in Drew Sabo’s big offensive game, Parkland knew who to focus on defensively. Sabo is their big weapon, and he proved it.

WHAT’S NEXT ... Northwestern hosts Nazareth on Thursday. The Tigers were defeated by the Blue Eagles 8-4 on April 1.