Mistakes will cost you in the postseason and Whitehall’s boys’ soccer team learned that first hand Tuesday night in the EPC semifinals.

The sixth-seeded Zephyrs battled second-seeded Northampton to a halftime draw, but saw things quickly fall apart in the second half of a 3-0 loss at Nazareth.

The K-Kids (18-2) move on to play Parkland at 12 p.m. Saturday afternoon in the EPC championship at J. Birney Crum Stadium.

A week after Whitehall topped Northampton 2-1 in a spirited regular season finale, the Zephs (13-7) self inflicted wounds ultimately led to their demise on a brisk night.

Nearly 11 minutes into the second half, Northampton strung together their own luck when Xavier Floyd whipped a low cross across the six-yard line only to have the ball ricochet off Whitehall defender Abdulazim Ojulari-Sulyman’s foot and into goal.

The mistakes continued less than four minutes later when Northampton was issued a yellow card for dissent with the ball in their possession.

It subsequently led to a drop kick from midfield that Jackson Vajda popped over the top of the defense, which led to the first of two goals for Northampton’s Delali Tsome, as he raced past the defense and lofted a left-footed shot past Whitehall keeper Cole Guerney.

“I think we played well enough for about 55-60 minutes to be deadlocked but just then had a breakdown or two that led to going down two goals and that became too much to make up,” said Whitehall head coach Christian Malone. “We had chances in the first half we should have put away but ended up being shots right to their keeper, so this is tough. We had a shot off the inner post in the second half too. It just wasn’t our night.”

Tsome capped off the night with another goal with less than nine minutes in the game, taking a breakaway and finishing the rebound off Guerney’s save to tap it into an empty net.

The loss ended Whitehall’s trek toward their first ever EPC final, but the past week signified major victories over the K-Kids and last Saturday’s 1-0 win over Emmaus in the EPC quarters.

“At the end of the day, as it sits right now we are the fourth place team in the entire EPC out of what 18 teams,” said Malone. “That’s something I am proud of for the boys. They worked hard for that this season.”

Whitehall now looks ahead to next week’s District 11 3A tournament, where the Zephs will await to see if they are the top-seed over Southern Lehigh (10-6-1), who are playing in the Colonial League tournament. If the Spartans win the league crown, they would automatically take the top-seed.

Either way, Whitehall has found themselves in position to win the school’s first ever district championship and Malone understands the importance of having that goal on the table.

“The great thing for us is we still have life,” Malone said. “The District 11 tournament for us begins Oct. 26. We know what we have to work on and that begins right away.

“The stiff competition of the EPC tournament should be a good precursor for districts. I’ll be looking for the boys to really get after it in districts, since now it really is win or go home.”