When Whitehall goalkeeper Kayla Nailor saw the Northampton player barreling down the field with the potential game-tying goal, she had a decision to make.

Moments earlier, the Kids had drawn within a goal, cutting Whitehall’s lead to 3-2 in the opening round of the district playoffs. That goal came from a rocket off the stick of Emily Henry.

Now Nailor was staring at a breakaway, and as the Northampton player got within twenty yards of the goal, Nailor dove to the turf at Al Erdosy Stadium, swatting the ball out of harms way.

Nailor admitted she was a bit nervous as the player came charging toward her.

“I haven’t really had a lot of breakaways this season and this was my first one, especially in a big game like that when we’re only one up,” said Nailor. “I saw my defenders so I did utilize them as best that I could, but when I saw that pass come through I knew there was going to be a shot right away so I threw myself onto the ground and got a touch on it.”

Two Northampton players were on the rush and Nailor said she couldn’t focus on just the player with the ball knowing that a pass could have been just as lethal.

“I just laid back until I saw that pass come through, and then I immediately hopped on the opportunity to close down that space and take that shot away from them,” said Nailor.

Nailor’s big stop kept the Zephyrs up by one, and when Emily Wells converted on a pass from Rachel Schannauer with a little over four minutes remaining, Northampton’s fate was sealed. The 4-2 win propelled them into the semifinals and a rematch against Emmaus. They lost 6-2 to the Green Hornets Monday evening, ending their season (more on that next week).

Head coach Jenn Bodnar said that throughout the season they’ve been looking for Nailor to enhance communication with her defenders, establishing her role as the leader of the defense.

“I think she’s coming into her own with that,” said Bodnar. “I think she really is starting to control when she wants to take balls, and she did. She stepped up tremendously today and had some big saves for us.”

Nailor finished the game with three saves.

Whitehall’s offense was also keeping the pressure on opposing goalkeeper Ashley Kunsman. The Zephyrs capitalized on four of their 14 penalty corners as Wells struck twice, while Kate Bonshak and Kylee Cunningham supplied the others.

Those goals were a product of the Zephyrs dominating the action, especially in the second half when they scored three goals. During one stretch midway through the period, they generated four straight corners and eventually converted with Kylee Cunningham getting the goal.

“It was just a matter of time before we got enough of those corners to convert,” said Bodnar. ”When we did, we did a really good job of executing corners as well as drawing them tonight.”

In the first half, Bodnar said that Northampton was beating them to every ball, but in the second half they were determined to win those battles, leading to the three goals.

“I really think the team made the necessary changes and stepped up in the second half,” said Bodnar.

The Zephyrs took on Emmaus once again, their fourth meeting of the season, in the district semifinals Monday night.

Whitehall fell again to Emmaus, this time by a 6-2 margin.

Bodnar was hoping to limit their mistakes and be aggressive throughout the game.

Nailor said that they were going to take a positive outlook into the game against the Green Hornets, especially coming off a big win against Northampton.

“I really think we can do it, especially if we keep our defense up and I play as well as I did today,” said Nailor.

Unfortunately for the Zephyrs, the Emmaus juggernaut program had different ideas, as they’ll took on Stroudsburg in Wednesday night’s final.