On Monday night, Northwestern Lehigh clinched a District 11 playoff berth with a 6-0 win over Catasauqua. Tuesday night, a 3-1 win on the road at Northern Lehigh gave the Tigers a spot in the Colonial League playoffs. They are two-time defending champions in districts and were league champions last season.

Northwestern Lehigh (9-6-1 Colonial, 10-7-1 overall) held a distinct advantage in play early on and barely allowed Northern Lehigh to get any pressure on goalie Gabriel Gober. Bulldogs’ goalie Kendall Heiney turned away early shots until Brynn Balliet put a shot past her with 2:13 left in the first quarter.

With the one-goal advantage, the Lady Tigers continued to pressure Northern Lehigh as they looked for a little breathing room. In the second period, Brooke Page cashed in for Northwestern after taking a pass from Ella Dangello off an offensive corner. Page rushed toward the goal, found a small opening and beat Heiney with a shot to go up 2-0.

“I got the ball and had an open lane, so I took a drive and was able to get it in through an opening that I saw,” said Page. “We have a bunch of different corners, and this specific play was a pass over and then a shot and it worked.”

Even the two-goal lead didn’t deter Northwestern Lehigh from looking for more. As the Tiger defense continued to turn away Bulldogs attackers, the offense continued to look for more.

Daniella Lister put herself into the scoring column when she hit the back of the goal to give Northwestern a commanding lead. The insurance policy paid off later in the third quarter when Northern Lehigh’s Aricka Creyer scored off a corner to cut the Tigers lead to 3-1.

The Northwestern defense again kicked up its efforts and didn’t allow the Bulldogs to get anything close to resembling a shot on goal over the rest of the game to lock up the win and the sixth seed in the Colonial League playoffs. The balanced scoring has become a trademark for Northwestern Lehigh this season as they spread the wealth on offense.

“Our offense is set up to spread the ball around and the girls have done a good job of getting themselves into good positions on the field so when they take a pass, they’re in a spot where they can do something,” said coach Lissa Opolsky. “We don’t have just one scorer to go to and they’ve really done a good job of spreading the opportunities around.”

Northwestern finished the season winning four of its last five games with the only loss coming against Southern Lehigh (15-0-0, 16-0-0). The Spartans have just their season finale against Salisbury (4-10, 5-11) standing between them and an undefeated regular season.

While Northwestern Lehigh is usually near the top of the league and district standings, they also have a history of climbing their way through playoffs.

After taking a hit from graduation, the Tigers were a long shot to go through the season without some hiccups, but they were still able to reach the postseason. Last season, the Lady Tigers were seeded third in the league and won their first Colonial League championship since 2003. Their fifth seed in districts will be the lowest seeding for the two-time defending Class A champions since 2018 when they were seeded seventh. That season – when this year’s seniors were freshmen – saw them knock off second-seeded Moravian Academy and third seeded Wilson to advance to the district finals where they fell to Lehighton 2-0.

“We’ve improved a lot over the season, and we’ve worked hard and have all grown together as the season went on,” Page said. “We’re as prepared as we can be for the postseason and we’re all pretty excited.”