No sense wasting time to start scoring goals, especially in the playoffs.

The Lady Tigers got a quick start against Northern Lehigh and never looked back to pick up a 5-0 win in the Colonial League quarterfinals.

Just after the first minute of the game, Paige Bissell found the back of the net for the early lead. From there, three other Northwestern players took turns scoring four more goals on the night.

The Tigers fell into a bit of a lull after Bissell’s goal but were still able to put a second goal on the board with 29:00 left in the first half when Sammie Bardonner scored off a corner kick to make it 2-0.

“The corner was played in, and the ball was loose and dribbling around the net and I just took my opportunity and put it in the corner,” said Bardonner.

“We talked during the pregame about coming out hot and trying to put one away early and setting the tone,” said head coach Jordan Smith. “We got a little lackadaisical after that first goal and got a little complacent. After we were on a few minutes we worked things out.”

Northwestern continued to dominate the play and keep pressure on Bulldogs sophomore goalkeeper Dekota Barthold, who was able to turn away some shots while others sailed just wide.

Bardonner had an open look and took a shot that sailed just over the crossbar midway through the first half. As the Lady Tigers continued to pressure Barthold, Katie Brensinger picked up a goal with 8:39 left in the first half to provide breathing room and a 3-0 lead.

“The first 20 minutes we weren’t communicating well enough and because of that lack of communication, we were getting a little disorganized out there and a little out of place and it led to a few letdowns on the field,” said Smith. “After we talked about that at halftime, the second half was just great, and the communication set us up to do some nice things out there.”

Rain started to fall during halftime, but the worst of the weather was over before the second half began. When play resumed, the rain had lessened but the field was left wet.

“The ball skids a lot more when the field is wet,” said Bardonner. “It’s faster and you have to play a little differently, but it didn’t bother us too much.”

Northwestern returned to its dominating style of play in the second half, and Camryn Fitch fired a direct kick from 25 yards out that found an opening in the top corner of the goal. Bardonner capped the scoring later when she knifed her way through the defense and fired a laser that glanced off Barthold’s hands and into the goal for a 5-0 lead.

“We had some issues in the beginning of the season and had some ups and downs,” Bardonner said. “We are getting a lot more confidence on the field and that’s important because we want to defend our league and district championships from last year. We hope to make it at least as far as we did last season and take it a little further.”

Northern Lehigh (10-8-0) found some opportunities throughout the game but were unable to finish the chances that they found and were held off the board by a stingy Northwestern Lehigh defense.

The Tigers advance to the semifinal game to take on number-two seed Southern Lehigh (12-3-2), who had a first-round bye. The two teams played their lone regular season game against each other in mid-September and fought for 100 minutes only to wind up with a scoreless tie. While Southern Lehigh and Northwestern are used to playing in the Colonial League playoffs, it is usually in the finals where they have met in each of the past three seasons, with Northwestern winning each of those games. This year’s semifinal matchup will be played back at Salisbury High School.