For about 30 minutes, the playing field looked relatively even between the two squads. But that changed drastically in a matter of less than two minutes.

Northwestern and Salisbury played a scoreless contest into the 29th minute of action. However, the Tigers scored two goals in a matter of 1:50 that helped break open the game. That momentum carried into the second half as the Tigers (5-1 in Colonial League) added another score to down the Falcons (5-2), 3-1 Tuesday evening at Northwestern Middle School.

It was Abigail Chisdak who got Northwestern on the board, cleaning up an initial shot by Sara Hathaway that was saved by Falcon goalie Jordan Kamp. Chisdak then set up Lydia Danner with a cross in the 18 with 9:08 left to play in the opening half for an early 2-0 lead.

“I really felt we started out playing well,” head coach Rick Babyak said. “The real difference is when they did get the attack going, they attacked in numbers and with confidence with multiple players. That’s the thing we’re struggling with a little bit. We’ll get an attack going, but we still don’t get the multiple players committing to the attack.”

“All of the credit to them. They got the players coming from the second tier. Our defenders did well to slow them down on both of those goals initially, but it’s that girl coming from the midfield coming in hard that suddenly has space.”

While it took almost three quarters of the first half to get on the scoreboard, it didn’t take quite as much time in the second half. Danner once again was the recipient of a Tiger setup in front of Salisbury’s goal, and her tally with 32:12 remaining lifted the Tigers to a 3-0 advantage.

Rylee Donaldson brought Salisbury’s deficit to 3-1 on a penalty kick almost nine minutes later, but the offense couldn’t sustain any momentum down the stretch. Donaldson had a clear shot on goal with 15 minutes to play, but Northwestern’s McKenna Amey was there for the save.

“Towards the end we were not generating enough around the goal,” Babyak said. “We were getting close to the 18, but we did not generate enough quality shots. Having said that, in the beginning of the game we had three quality chances that we put over or wide that if we could have put one of those away, it could have changed the entire complexion of the game.”

The Tigers out-shot Salisbury 18-9. Kamp led the way with nine saves in goal.

While Northwestern got the upper hand in this rivalry of teams expecting to battle for a league playoff position, there were positives that Babyak was able to see.

“Three to one is a tough score, but against a good team like that it’s not a bad score,” Babyak said. “I think we can learn a lot from this game, and hopefully go on and do some positive things.

“This is the kind of team you have to be able to compete with if you want to have a league championship or district championship. She [Northwestern head coach Kelly Bleam] lost a bunch of great players and she reloads.”

Salisbury responded two days after that defeat with a commanding 9-1 win over Wilson. Sarah Reilly scored four goals against the Warriors, and Kelly Gardus added two scores.

The Falcons then dropped a nonleague contest against Nazareth, 6-1. Results from Monday’s game at Saucon Valley were not available at time of press.