The Lady Tigers opened the 2024 portion of their schedule by splitting their two games, both of which were against Colonial League opponents. Saucon Valley came to town and were quickly disposed of by Northwestern Lehigh in a 58-14 decision and the Tigers then went to Pen Argyl where they fell to the Knights 61-54.

Northwestern (5-2 Colonial, 9-2 overall) came out firing to open up a 17-5 lead after the first quarter and stretched that to 36-11 by halftime. Saucon Valley (1-6, 2-8) had no answers to try to shut down the outside shooting for Northwestern as the Tigers nailed nine three-pointers in the game with Emma Freeman hitting on four of those. Northwestern was also able to work the ball down low to Olivia Reinhart, who finished with 10 points to be one of the four Tigers in double digits in points scored. Freeman led the way with 12 points, Brook Balliet had 11 and Cara Thomas joined Reinhart with 10 points in the win.

“Last year, Olivia had to go against Paige (Sevrain) in practice and I think that going against her on a daily basis made her better and it’s given her more confidence,” said Northwestern head coach Chris Deutsch. “She is also one of the more liked players in the program. The other girls love playing with her and being around her because she is such a good teammate and I think it’s the same thing in soccer, too.”

The Pen Argyl offense held the hot hand and drained 10 three-pointers in their 61-54 win over Northwestern Lehigh. Ellie Wallbillich led Pen Argyl with 21 points and Macy Kotulka had 16 for the Green Knights.

The two teams battled through the first quarter with Pen Argyl (5-3, 7-4) holding a 17-12 edge, but the Green Knights defense stepped forward in the second quarter, holding Northwestern to just six points to give themselves an 11-point lead at halftime and they stretched that to 19 points by the end of the third quarter even though Cara Thomas scored 11 third quarter points on her way to finishing with 29 points in the game.

Things got interesting over the final eight minutes with Northwestern Lehigh holding down the Pen Argyl offense, while the Tigers shooting got hotter.

Thomas added eight more points in the final quarter and Sadie Fenstermaker scored six points off the bench to pull Northwestern Lehigh closer, but they ran out of time and fell to Pen Argyl.

“We lost some key seniors and in the beginning of the season we were just trying to put the puzzle pieces together and figure out how we were going to play,” said Thomas after the win against the Panthers. “Now, we’re starting to click really well, and we look for each other out there and we’re picking up on how each other plays.”

The upcoming schedule has a full slate of games with the Tigers playing at Wilson (1-8, 2-9) on Thursday and after a day off, coming back Saturday when they Palisades (3-4, 3-5). On Monday, Northwestern goes out of the Colonial League for a home game against Freedom (4-8) and the following day will host Bangor (5-3, 7-4) in a game that had to be rescheduled because of recent flooding in the area.

The loss to Pen Argyl may have been one of those moments during a season that causes a team to refocus after a long winning streak. The Knights snapped an eight-game stretch of wins for Northwestern.

“Right now, we’re definitely confident and getting to that point where we are toeing the line between confident and cocky,” said Hannah Gober after Northwestern beat Saucon Valley. “You want to recognize your strengths, but you also have to recognize your weaknesses. We definitely aren’t satisfied with where we are, but we know we’re doing well.”