In their 10 games this season, the Northwestern Lehigh defense has allowed double digit goals just twice; both games were losses to strong East Penn Conference teams.

The Tigers’ season opened with back-to-back shutouts over Bethlehem Catholic and Saucon Valley and they have allowed just 13 goals in their last three games. Last week, the Tigers (7-3) beat Pleasant Valley (7-7) and Southern Lehigh (0-10) by a combined score of 27-8.

In the 13-6 win over Southern Lehigh, goalie Bailen Smargiassi made nine saves in the game and senior Cade Christopher led the offense with six goals and three assists. Austin Sosnovik scored three times in the game with Blaine Snyder adding two goals and two assists. Braxton Lakatosh and Stone Sosnovik both scored a goal and Lakatosh, a freshman, added two assists.

The next week will bring back some memories from last season for the Tigers. In just their fourth season as an official program, Northwestern Lehigh not only qualified for districts last year, but defeated Moravian Academy in overtime and reached the finals where they fell to Allentown Central Catholic.

Northwestern faces both Central Catholic (5-4) and Moravian Academy (3-5) in addition to having a second game against Moravian Academy as the penultimate game on the regular season schedule. The Tigers also play EPC teams Emmaus (8-3) and Northampton (7-6) on consecutive days.

In other words, the Tigers are looking at a key spot in their season and they come in having won three straight games.

With no Colonial League playoffs to worry about, the Tigers came into this week as the top team in the 2A classification with the Vikings in second place. The two schools are the only 2A schools in districts with winning records and can pencil in a rematch during the postseason. The biggest question is who will be seeded higher.

The Tigers have eight games remaining over the next three weeks. Because there is no Colonial League tournament, Northwestern will play three games while the EPC teams compete to decide their league championship. Overall, the teams remaining on the Northwestern Lehigh schedule have a combined record of 38-44 this season with Parkland (11-1) being the toughest remaining team. Those two teams meet on May 4.