KINTNERSVILLE – Northwestern had its best Colonial League boys soccer regular season in four years. Despite Monday's loss in the league semifinal, the Tigers plan to continue their successful season next week.

"Our goal coming into this year was to finish with a medal, be it leagues or districts," said Northwestern head coach Nate Hunsicker. "We qualified for both. I think we're going to do everything in our power to not come up short of that goal."

The Tigers went 11-2 in league play this season and 14-4-1 overall. The league mark is the team's best since going 14-2-1 in 2008. This year's team finished in first place in the North Division and was the No. 2 seed in the league playoffs.

But Monday they met a Spartan team that was motivated by an early-season loss to the Tigers. After a 2-1 loss to Northwestern on Sept. 6, Southern Lehigh (13-3-2) regrouped and has lost just one game since.

"When we lost to them we were 1-2-1," said Southern Lehigh head coach Mark Evans. "I saw a disappointment on these kids' faces that I have not seen any other time this season. We kept the promise that we would start our season over the next day. And we did.

"They're a good team. They're well-coached. The highest respect for them. But we didn't feel we played our best when we played them last time."

The two teams played to a 1-1 tie Monday evening before junior Will Demmel scored in the second overtime to put his team in the title game.

Demmel's shot from 25 yards out got just over the head of Northwestern keeper Kyle Snyder to end the game.

"Ben Hangey just played me a pass," said Demmel of his sixth goal this season. "I took a touch and saw that I was open and could take a shot. I hit it and it went in."

For the first 15-minute overtime and the opening few minutes of the second, the No. 2 seed Tigers and No. 3 seed Spartans looked like they were headed to penalty kicks. Northwestern had one golden opportunity in the first overtime, when Christopher Rice found Kyle Willis open in front of the goal. But Southern Lehigh keeper Josh Gildea (14 saves) smothered it in front of the left post.

When Demmel got the ball with no one around him early in the second overtime, he was just trying to get off a quality shot and it happened to float just over Snyder's reach.

"All I've been preaching before this match was to put the ball on frame," said Evans. "I don't need them to rip the ball, just to put it on frame. He was about 25 yards out. He just laid a ball on frame and it happened to elude the keeper over his head. It wasn't a world-beating play, but he did what we asked him to do."

The Spartans had an early lead. James Borelli scored on a Matt Dicker assist with 12:11 left in the first half.

The Tigers evened the score on a Kyle Willis penalty kick four minutes into the second half.

"Coming into it I knew each team had a 50-50 shot," said Hunsicker. "It came down to who got the right break at the right time. The cards didn't fall into our favor.

"We came out a little defensively and ended up giving up a goal that probably shouldn't have happened. The second half we came out offensively on fire. Our attack fizzled a little bit as the second half went on. We played well. We had a lot of resolve tonight."

The game was pretty evenly matched, with Southern Lehigh holding a slight edge in shots (15-13) and corners (5-2). That's different than when the two teams met back on Sept. 6 and Northwestern came out on top, 2-1.

It was a low point in the Spartans' season, but it also lit a spark in the team.

Northwestern has played this season without returning First Team All Colonial League player Isaiah Danner, who was injured late in the preseason.

The team didn't let that one setback alter its goals for the year.

"I'm extremely pleased," said Hunsicker. "Everybody picked up their game and we had a lot of resolve. Everyone played really well this year. Hopefully we can play well in districts so all the wins don't go to naught."

The Tigers begin District 11 Class AA play next week.