The Northwestern Lehigh High School girls lacrosse team continues to learn the sport and grow as a team and as individual players each year since the program started. In just their third year, the Tigers (4-13) played what was for all intents and purposes an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference schedule, with 11 of their 17 regular season games being playing against teams from the competitive EPC, all of which are larger schools than Northwestern by enrollment.

Tiger head coach Lissa Opolsky is happy with how the 2021 regular season played out and how her team continued to get better every game.

“The season was challenging coming off of the 2020 pandemic hiatus, but they were looking forward to making much more progress this year than our first in 2019,” said Opolsky. “We were able to put together a few wins, a couple of really close and competitive games, and each time we were able to find something that we were doing better when competing against some of the league’s top teams. While competing in the EPC league, the team knew they would have their hands full with the caliber of the competition. Mentally we were much stronger than three years ago and able to fight through some tough situations.”

In just their third year as a program and only their second season on the field after the 2020 season was canceled, Northwestern could be competing in the District 11 tournament.

The field has yet to be decided, but the progress from their first year of not having won a game to possibly playing for a district title is a vast improvement for the Tigers. They are ranked fourth in District 11 Class 2A and four teams will make up the district playoff field.

This season saw the Tigers win their first game in program history, which came on the opening day of the season for the team.

“The progress that the program is making is thanks to the youth programs, the student-athletes playing in their off-season, and their willingness to teach one another,” Opolsky said. “This year we were able to have our assistant coach, Jess Bahnick, lead the team through some strategy and tactics that have helped us understand the game from a different perspective.”

Sophomore Ava Collins was the leading scorer for Northwestern. Classmate Claire Costa was the draw specialist and helped win possession for the Tigers. Seniors Charlotte Horn, Bailey Scheffler and Tess Ledeboer provided a strong defensive presence in front of goal.

“We will look forward to building on this season,” said Opolsky. “We want to become more competitive with the EPC teams through our experience and skills.”