The defending state champion Northwestern Lehigh boys soccer team marched perfectly through the regular season with a Colonial League record of 12-0-0 and an overall mark of 18-0-0.

Next up are the league playoffs, which get underway on Monday for most of the qualified teams, but the Tigers are off until Wednesday thanks to a bye in the quarterfinal round as the league’s top seed. Notre Dame (Green Pond) will also get a bye as the Crusaders come into the tournament as the number-two seed.

Northwestern downed Catasauqua 12-1 last week to finish the league portion of their schedule and then beat Hazleton 8-4 in a nonleague game that ended the regular season for the Tigers.

In the win over the Rough Riders, 11 different players scored goals with only Logan Mesics getting multiple goals in the win, finishing with two. Jake van Lierop had three assists for the Tigers.

In the season finale, Mesics again was the man as he scored four of the eight goals. Jack Mauro had two goals and Cole Mertz and van Lierop each had one goal for Northwestern Lehigh.

In his quest to reach the 100-goal mark for his high school career, Matt Johnson stands at 93 goals with two guaranteed games – and probably more – in the postseason. Earlier in the year, Johnson set a new record for goals in a career and he is currently two assists shy of tying the school record for assists in a career, which currently stands at 56.