Palmerton and Northwestern were tied at 2-2 after regulation in the District 11 1A field hockey championship game on Thursday.
Junior Olivia Costa scored the second Northwestern goal of the game and put in the game-winner just over two minutes into overtime to help the Tigers claim the title with a 3-2 victory over the Bombers.
“The third goal was off of a corner, so it was inserted by Rylee McGinley and was passed to Hannah (Gober) on the top of the circle,” Costa said. “She took it left, did a reverse and I was just lucky enough to get a good touch off of it.”
Northwestern and Palmerton faced each other four times throughout the season and split those contests, with Northwestern bookending the year with wins over the Bombers.
“Honestly, I think we had to change our mentality,” Costa said. “We had to trust one another and come into this game hyped up, ready to play, play our best and just play the game that we’re used to playing. Our passing pattern is super-great, and also just working as team. It was a team effort.”
Palmerton’s Sydney Frantz scored the first goal just under two minutes into the game, and Northwestern answered right back with a Cara Thomas goal just over a minute later on an assist by Carsyn Van Norman. Both teams were tied at 1-1 after the first quarter, and Palmerton took a 2-1 lead when Mikayla Pengelly put one in for a Bombers 2-1 lead at halftime.
“They did a really good job of being resilient tonight and just doing whatever it took,” Northwestern head coach Lissa Opolsky said. “Some people who play forward were all the way back in the circle playing defense and just sticking to their job and executing when it came time to execute.
“We played four different times and used three different game plans, so I wasn’t going to do the same thing day after day and expect a different result. We game-planned a little bit differently and used some different personnel in places that we thought were just hiccups for us along the way. It worked, so I guess changing the game plan was really important to what we were doing as well.”
Northwestern tied the game at 2-2 when Costa scored her first goal with 4:23 left in the third quarter. Both goalkeepers made incredible saves to keep the game tied.
“Our efforts were all there,” Palmerton head coach Megan Leadbetter said. “Northwestern prepared to go against what we had very well. They’re a strong and disciplined team. There’s nothing that I would change or do that our girls went out there and did. I’m proud of everything they did. When you got one slip through like that, especially step-aside, it’s anybody’s game. A tip is so hard for a goalie to stop.”
The Tigers won the first meeting of the season 3-2 on Sept. 6. The Bombers won the second game 2-0 on Sept. 27, and posted a 3-0 win in the Colonial League semis.
Northwestern’s season came to an end Tuesday with a 3-0 loss to District 3’s third-place team in Bishop McDevitt (19-2-1)