For the first time in the program’s history, Northwestern Lehigh girls’ soccer reached the PIAA semifinals.

The trip came after a 1-0 win over Trinity in the quarterfinals at Blue Mountain High School. Playing in the quarters was the furthest the Tigers had been able to venture in the past.

Freshman Sophia Schaffer had the lone goal in the win, while the Tigers defense continued to swallow up their opponents.

Persistence was the key for Northwestern in getting the goal as Katie Brensinger sent a pass to Schaffer, who was able to work ahead of a defender to put a shot on goal.

Schaffer admitted that she may have panicked a little on the play but had enough presence of mind to stay on the play and get the goal. Schaffer’s original shot went directly toward goalie Julianna Prokop, but something the coaches had told the team stayed in their minds and the attackers stayed on the play.

“I got a little too excited and if I had it to do over again, I would have taken a deep breath and thought about the shot, but I just quickly put it on goal,” said Schaffer. “The coaches told us that she [Prokop] had trouble holding on to balls that were hit at her, so we knew to keep going on the play and not to back off.”

The ball did rebound off Prokop and Cammy Fitch got a foot on the ball to send it to Brensinger, who headed the ball to Schaffer, who had composed herself and this time put the ball away from Prokop to give Northwestern (23-1-0) the lead.

The Shamrocks (18-4-0) were unable to find an answer to a defense that has been difficult for teams to beat this season. Defenders Syenna Flores and Abby Pomajevich both played a great game with goalie Olivia Reinhart making stops on shots when attackers were able to get anything on goal. Again, the defensive success came down to preparation.

“We prepared a lot to play this kind of team and I think we did well,” said Pomajevich, who would like nothing more than to play for a state championship in her senior season. “It feels really good because we haven’t even gotten this far in my time with the team, so it’s great to get here in my senior year, but we have to keep going on from here.”

The Tigers controlled much of the play through the first part of the second half, but Trinity was able to gather themselves and challenged the Tigers defense, keeping the ball primarily in the Northwestern Lehigh third of the field. Still, the Northwestern defense was up to the task and Northwestern interrupted some of the attacks by returning to mount their own challenges on Prokop and the Rocks defense.

“Coach Smith talked to our defense about being more composed in the second half and I think that worked out great,” said Schaffer. “Our defense was amazing in the second half, and they were able to get a lot of the balls out and limited their opportunities.”

Normally at this point in the postseason, teams are playing schools that they are unfamiliar with, but thanks to a penchant for wanting to play the best competition around, Northwestern played a regular season game against defending state champion Central Columbia (22-1-0) and guess who they get in the semifinals of states. After beating the Fighting Blue Jays 3-1 during the regular season, the two teams met again in the semis after Central downed Wyomissing 3-0 in their quarterfinal matchup.

“It’s a nervous excitement,” said Northwestern head coach Jordan Smith about heading to the semifinals. “We’ve gotten to the quarterfinals the last few years and just haven’t been able to get over that hump, so it’s an excited feeling, but for them, you can’t be content just getting there. I’m sure once my heart rate comes down a little, I’ll feel a bit of relief about making it past the quarterfinals, but now, I’m still a bit anxious.”