Northwestern Lehigh won this year’s district championship at Emmaus High School over Allentown Central Catholic. On Saturday, the Tigers returned to Memorial Field for a state quarterfinal and this time around, it was another close game. Jacob Van Lierop picked up the winning goal early in the first overtime period for a 1-0 Northwestern Lehigh (24-1) win over Fleetwood (20-2-1).

Late in the game, Van Lierop looked like a guy who wanted to end things so he and his teammates could enjoy the rest of a beautiful fall day. With 1:10 left in regulation, the sophomore midfielder put a shot on goal that keeper Mitch Barr tipped over the crossbar. Just under a minute later, Van Lierop was again looking to put his team on top late in the game but was turned away.

“I dribbled down the field and found Matt (Johnson), he sent it back to me and I took a shot,” said Van Lierop. “Great save by the keeper, I could not believe he made that save; I was so upset.”

Van Lierop has put together an impressive postseason run for Northwestern and had scored what would be the winning goal in the Colonial League semifinal game against Moravian Academy, giving Northwestern a 2-1 win. Saturday’s goal was Van Lierop’s fifth of the postseason, giving him the team lead in that category.

Riding the momentum of coming close to putting the game’s only goal on the board late in regulation, Northwestern came out with even more energy to start overtime. Just over three minutes into the OT, Van Lierop again took a pass from Johnson and made a move around Barr. Staring at a wide-open net, Van Lierop just put an easy shot on goal and watched as it rolled to the back of the net, kicking off the celebration.

“We had a lot of momentum and honestly, we were on the doorstep of scoring two or three times (late in regulation),” said coach Nate Hunsicker. “We were buzzing. We didn’t want to stop. We didn’t want that five-minute break there. We wanted to jump right back on the pitch and keep going. It was exciting.”

The two teams were led by their defenses that prevented either team from getting open looks at the net. While Fleetwood had just three shots on goal during regulation, Northwestern had none until the final 1:10 of play.

Throughout the game, Fleetwood defenders had Johnson and senior Josh Zellner well marked and kept them from getting position in front of the goal.

“This is awesome,” said Zellner. “This is the greatest moment of my soccer career. I can’t wait to play on Tuesday. They made life tough on me and Matt, but sometimes, all you need to win is one goal.”

The shots on goal by Fleetwood were easily handled by goalie Damian Krapf, whose biggest challenge came in the first half when Danny Alvarez was in front of the net at close range and put a shot on goal that Krapf made a nice catch on to turn Fleetwood away. Many of the shots that Krapf had to play were directly at him.

The state semifinal game slate for Tuesday against Lewisburg was postponed, along with all PIAA outdoor events scheduled for Tuesday, because of cold rain and snow across the state. Games were rescheduled for Wednesday, after Press deadline.