After ruling the Colonial League through the regular season and then advancing to the league finals, the season took a cruel turn for Northwestern Lehigh when the Tigers’ dream of a perfect season was shattered by a heartbreaking 2-1 loss in overtime to Southern Lehigh.

The win was revenge for the Southern Lehigh class of 11 seniors who had lost to Northwestern Lehigh in the league finals in every other season of their high school career.

“We just weren’t connecting in the midfield, in the buildup,” said Tiger head coach Nate Hunsicker. “In spurts we were possessing the ball and we created some opportunities, but on the whole, it just seemed a little disconnected today, a little disjointed.”

A key for the Spartans was ending another streak that Northwestern had going. In that streak, either senior Josh Zellner or junior Matt Johnson had scored for the Tigers in 13 straight games and 18 of the 19 that the team played in 2022. The streak was nearly extended when Matt Johnson put a bicycle kick on goal with just 36 seconds left in the first half, but Southern Lehigh goalie Ayden Scharper seized the ball out of the air to keep it out of the goal.

The Tigers (19-1) held on to the momentum through halftime and with 36:56 left in the second half, Jack Mauro took a pass from Zellner and deposited it into the front left corner of the goal to give Northwestern Lehigh a 1-0 lead. The goal got the Spartans’ attention, and they threw a switch to find some momentum of their own.

Southern Lehigh spent the next 15 minutes looking to even up the game. A shot from Chris Venezia went over the crossbar and Jack Johnson came close with a header that was stopped by goalkeeper Damian Krapf.

With 22:42 left in regulation, Matthew O’Neill finally found a crack in the defense and fired a shot that beat Krapf to tie the game at 1-1.

The two teams shared opportunities the rest of the way and Zellner fired a shot off the crossbar with eight minutes left in regulation that had Scharper beat had it been slightly lower.

“After we went up 1-0, we had a couple moments after that where we had opportunities,” Hunsicker said. “We had a one-on-one with the keeper and there was a play where Matt (Johnson) was just inches away from getting the bottom of a cleat on it and redirecting it in the net. I think if we get either one of those and the game goes to 2-0, it becomes a different game for us.”

With just under ten minutes remaining in overtime, the tandem of Johnson and Zellner nearly hooked up on a game-winner. Johnson headed the ball toward the front of the goal and Zellner used a bicycle kick only to have Scharper make an athletic play to deny Northwestern Lehigh the championship.

Southern Lehigh (12-6-1) responded minutes later when Johnson played a near perfect ball from midfield to the right side for Landon Bealer who made a couple strong moves and put a low cross past Krapf for the 2-1 win.

Bealer was a constant for the Spartans against the Tigers this season as he scored the only goal in a 2-1 loss to Northwestern during the regular season before adding Saturday’s game-winner to his resume.

Northwestern gets a bye into the quarterfinals of the District 11 tournament and will face seventh seeded Pine Grove Area (14-1-0) at Tiger Stadium.

“Hopefully, we can use this as fuel for districts and keep us motivated,” said Hunsicker, who thinks the loss may not hurt their chances in districts. “It actually makes our district path a little bit easier to the championship, but I would much rather have had a harder path and an extra goal today.”

SEMIFINALS

N’western-Moravian

For the fourth straight season, Northwestern has faced Moravian Academy in the semis and in each of the last three meetings the Tigers have been victorious after posting a 2-1 win Thursday night at Alumni Field at Catasauqua High School.

As usual, the contest was one of the more physical games of the season, as over 20 fouls were called with Moravian Academy also drawing three yellow cards, two to players and one to coach George Andriko.

The difference in this one was Northwestern goalie Damian Krapf, who made eight saves with very few of them being of the routine variety. Most required a big vertical leap, a dive or slide to stop a Moravian Academy shot on goal.

“Honestly, it’s all kind of a blur because there was so much happening,” said the senior goalie after the win. “I remember some of them, but I can’t really remember what happened and in what order.”

His first save of the night came with 30:30 left in the first half when Saleem Diakite launched a shot on goal for the Lions that was turned away by Krapf.

Two minutes later, Northwestern used its newfound momentum from Krapf’s big play to go up 1-0 when Matt Johnson ran down a pass, broke away from the Moravian defense and put a shot past goalie Gabe Borsuk for a 1-0 edge.

Moravian Academy showed that it wasn’t daunted by the Tigers’ goal, and put together a beautiful goal of its own on a corner kick.

Rafael Sanjuan delivered the corner kick and Trey Sheeler, who will play at Lehigh University next fall, rose above a Northwestern defender and headed the ball toward the goal. Just as Krapf moved to make a play, George Husack stepped in to deflect the ball with his foot and tie the game 1-1.

As the physical play intensified, Krapf kept Moravian from going ahead when he made a save literally at the feet of Sanjuan, who was at the left corner of the goal. As the half neared the midway point, Jacob Van Lierop, arguably the scrappiest player on the field, found an opening and got a shot to the back of the net, giving Northwestern Lehigh a 2-1 edge.

The lead would have been erased about five minutes later if not for another big save by Krapf, who made a dive to his right to stop a shot from Husack as he looked for his second goal of the night off a pass from Sanjuan.