Things are starting to change around the Colonial League. At least that’s what it seems like.

Salisbury girls soccer head coach took over the program back in 2012. In his first four years, the Lady Falcons had not been fortunate enough to beat Northwestern, a perennial league contender. The two teams never even played to a draw in that timespan.

That changed last week. Salisbury got a late goal from senior midfielder Caylin Meikrantz that tied the game at 1-1 against Northwestern. After two scoreless overtime sessions, the two squads played to a 1-1 draw on Thursday night at Salisbury High School.

“We tell the girls that we think they are at the level where they can play with anybody on any given day,” Babyak said. “We just need to really start believing that. The difference between their program and our program is we’re still getting used to that.

“We didn’t play our best soccer game today, and we were missing a little bit of somebody today. But we did well. And we were telling the girls you’re going to have to make up for what we’re missing, and they did it.”

That piece that Salisbury (7-1-3 overall, 4-0-1 in Colonial League) was missing was sophomore midfielder Rylee Donaldson, who injured her wrist during the Nazareth game on September 17.

After a 5-0 victory over Catasauqua three days after Donaldson’s injury, Salisbury would face its first real test without its star midfielder. When all was said and done, there was plenty of optimism following the 1-1 draw.

“As far as Rylee, obviously she is a very big part of our team,” Babyak sad. “But she is still out here cheering us on and helping me coach out here. I’m proud of her. She is a good kid.

“We hung in there and I thought we got better as we went. We probably went a little bit too much homerun ball and we were trying to go for the breakaway there. We probably should have tried to possess it a little bit more.”

Northwestern (10-1-1, 5-1-1) cracked the scoreboard first, and it didn’t take long for the Lady Tigers to do so. A pass inside the 18 found Maggie Motolese, who used a left-footed strike to punch the ball past Salisbury goalie Kyra Bruns in the 19th minute.

That 1-0 Northwestern lead would hold for the rest of the first half and for 23 minutes in the second half. Then, one of Salisbury’s leaders rose to the challenge.

Meikrantz received a pass from another Lady Falcon teammate, and her left-footed strike from 20 yards out sailed into the right side of the net to even the score up.

“They are a good team,” Babyak said. “They did some very nice things out there, and they had their chances out there. I give my team credit for the heart and the intensity they showed. They probably could have let down when we gave up that first goal, but they didn’t. They came back.”

Both teams had its chances in the overtime sessions. Salisbury had the best shot on goal early in the first period. Erica Holben lofted a pass into Northwestern’s box, and forward Kelly Gardus was there for a potential game-winning header past Northwestern goalkeeper McKenna Amey. Amey was there fore the save, however, but unfortunately suffered a deep cut to her forehead when trying to save a follow-up shot from Salisbury.

“It’s very unfortunate,” Babyak said. “And just like today, that’s very unfortunate for their keeper. That kills me when I see anybody getting hurt like that.”

It was only one game out of 12 Colonial League contests, but Salisbury is looking in good shape roughly halfway through their conference schedule. They’re one of only two remaining unbeaten teams. Southern Lehigh is the other currently at 7-0.

The Lady Falcons passed their first big league test. Salisbury could face Northwestern team once again come the postseason, possibly in both league and district playoffs.

“Who knows what happens between now and the end,” Babyak said. “If we make the top four and get into the playoffs, we could see them in the Colonial League playoffs. They are still in the [District 11 Class 2A] with us as well so we could potentially see them there.”