It was simple. A win for the Salisbury girls soccer team and its ticket to the Colonial League tournament would be punched.

Salisbury entered the regular season finale against Southern Lehigh a game behind those Spartans in the win column. A victory would even the squads with identical 9-3 records in the league, with the Falcons holding the head-to-head tiebreaker for the fourth and final playoff spot.

Southern Lehigh had other plans.

Despite Salisbury tying the game 1-1 after a Southern Lehigh goal in the first eight minutes, the Spartans’ offense exploded after that. The Spartans (13-5 overall, 10-2 in Colonial League) scored three more goals in the first half and added two more over the final 40 minutes to end the Falcons’ league playoff hopes with a 6-2 win.

“It’s unfortunate [we didn’t make leagues], but the girls played their hearts out out there,” head coach Rick Babyak said. “They did some really good things out there. We ate a couple too many goals, but I was really proud of them. I thought they played some inspired soccer out there.”

Caylin Meikrantz’ goal in the 14th minute quickly negated an early Southern Lehigh goal by Bridget Cerciello on a throw in from Erin Donnelly.

Not even four minutes later, however, the Southern Lehigh offense got back on the board. This time it was for good.

Kristen Cocozza wrestled the ball away from a Salisbury defender deep in their own territory, leaving her in a one-on-one opportunity with Falcon (11-7, 8-4) goalkeeper Jordan Kamp. Cocozza’s tally put the Spartans ahead 2-1 with 22:54 to play in the half.

Cocozza scored again a little over four minutes later to bump Southern Lehigh’s lead to 3-1, and Madelyn Singley got in on the scoring parade with 14:24 to play in the first half.

“We believed that we could put the ball in the back of the net, and we did,” Babyak said. “Even when they scored against us, we came back at it and said we can do this. And they did. They believed in themselves. They worked hard out there and they made things happen.”

Sarah Reilly connected on a Falcon corner kick that brought the Falcons within two goals at halftime, but Southern Lehigh’s momentum carried quickly into the final 40 minutes. Kaitlyn O’Brien cleaned up a loose ball in front of Salisbury’s goal for a 5-2 Spartan advantage seven minutes into the second half.

Cocozza added her third goal for a hat trick in the final five minutes.

“When they attack they commit numbers to the attack,” Babyak said. “That makes a huge difference. They have a confidence in their attack that we are starting to get. We get it in spurts, that confidence.”

The Falcons won’t be playing in the Colonial League playoffs after qualifying last year, but their season isn’t over. Following the league tournament, Salisbury will compete in the District 11 Class AA tournament.

One thing Salisbury will be working on during the break from play is their combination play in the center of the field.

“It’s a shame that we didn’t get into leagues, but we have things to do yet,” Babyak said. “We’ll get ourselves ready for districts.

“It’s the combination play, and it was there today. Sometimes we’re a little bit too direct. We have to move the ball quicker in combination through the midfield to open up the defense a little bit, instead of being so direct all of the time. I’m going to say I thought we did that pretty effectively for parts of the game today.”

Southern Lehigh earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament and faced No. 3 Palisades in one of the semifinals on Tuesday. No. 1 seeded Saucon Valley faces No. 4 Northwestern in the other game.