Boys soccer suffers first loss

Through the midway point of the season, the Northwestern boys' soccer team had won its first six conference games, and led the Colonial League standings as the lone unbeaten team as of Monday.

But that winning streak came to a halt at the hands of Moravian Academy on Monday. Two goals by the Lions (6-2) in the second half negated an early Tiger goal, and Northwestern's 2-1 defeat was their first since last season's District 11 semifinals loss to Salisbury.

"This was our poorest showing of the year," head coach Nate Hunsicker said. "We started off strong, but for whatever reason as the game went on, we didn't look sharp and made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes."

Cody Gangaware's goal in the opening 14 minutes gave the Tigers the quick start they were looking for and a 1-0 lead heading into halftime.

But that's when things turned for the Tigers (6-1).

It took some time for Moravian to get on the scoreboard in the second half, but Tanner Shane's goal with 15:05 remaining on a corner kick evened up the score at 1-1. In the final moments, a breakdown in the Tigers' defense led to Jeff Brown's game-winning tally with 1:40 left on the clock.

"We played too defensive in the second half," Hunsicker said. "This is something we touched on at half not to do, but sometimes it's just human nature. We needed to stay more aggressive.

"Not to take anything away from Moravian, but this was our game to win and we let it slip away. Moravian played hard though."

Last season's Tigers team was in a similar situation.

"In the moment the kids were very disappointed," Hunsicker said. "We talked afterwards about using this loss as motivation, kind of like last year when we lost to Saucon. We then went unbeaten until district semis. Hopefully we bounce back quickly and strong, and gear up for another run."

For a team that possesses just three seniors, it will be crucial in seeing how the Tigers respond from their first taste of adversity this season. Hunsicker believes his team is capable of rebounding and making another strong push to close the season.

"We are very young and our inexperience showed a little in this game," Hunsicker said. "I'm both anxious and excited to see how we handle this loss. Knowing this group, I think it will focus us even more and we will come out stronger."

Kyle Bellhorn recorded 14 saves in goal for the Tigers. The Lions outshot Northwestern 16-9.

The Tigers host Southern Lehigh on Tuesday at 4 p.m. Results from Wednesday's game at Northern Lehigh were not available at time of press.