Brook Balliet has become known for coming up big in the postseason.

A year ago, it was Balliet who scored the lone goal in Northwestern’s 1-0 win over Allentown Central Catholic that gave the Tigers the District 11 2A soccer championship.

With Central Catholic as the opponent again this season in the championship, Balliet had her hand in again, scoring the lone goal in the Lady Tigers 1-0 win last week. This season, it was Balliet getting the assist and sophomore Sophia Schaffer who scored what would be the winning goal.

“Sophie made such a great run,” said Balliet. “She cut in front of the defender, and she saw that an open gap was there. We have always worked well together, and I was able to get the ball through the middle and she has always been able to finish super well and that was a great moment for her.”

Schaffer never had to break stride to finish the play and put the ball just under the crossbar for the lead with just over 22 minutes left to play. The goal snapped a scoreless tie as both teams fought to get early momentum in the game.

Throughout the game both teams were playing a physical style of soccer with both teams being given a yellow card in the first half of play, but neither team was able to take advantage of the advantage.

“My message before the game and at the half was to keep our composure and play our style of play,” said Northwestern head coach Jordan Smith. “We knew they were a physical team and that’s one of the things that makes them a really good team and I thought we did a good job handling it. We had some dangerous set pieces, but just weren’t able to capitalize, but it was a gritty effort by the girls.”

Defensively, Northwestern has allowed just eight goals all season and has now produced five straight shutouts, outscoring opponents 30-0 during the streak.

“Our defense was unbelievable tonight,” said sophomore Alexis Kercher. “Everyone played amazingly. They were very physical, but we dealt with it very well. Everyone kept their cool and everyone just defended as a team. We all had to work together, and I just thought it was an awesome team effort.”

Northwestern held a 4-3 edge in shot at halftime, but Central Catholic was able to find more opportunities in the second half and ended up putting seven shots on goal compared to two for the Tigers.

Northwestern goalie Olivia Reinhart was at the top of her game and prevented the Vikettes from getting on the board. Central Catholic was especially tough late in the game and had opportunities, including a final fray in front of the goal with :05 left in regulation, but Northwestern was able to clear the ball.

“It’s a matter of knowing your role and doing your job and that’s exactly what the girls did,” said Smith. “It got a little dicey there at the end, but that’s what happens against a good team, and they gave us everything we could handle, and I am proud of the girls for dealing with it.”

One of the biggest saves of the night came from Schaffer herself, who looked to head a ball away and wound up with the ball hitting her squarely in the face. The sophomore was able to shake it off and stay in the game.

“We were just trying to keep the ball from going in the net in those last few minutes and it was chaos,” said Schaffer. “We were just trying to get the ball back and protect the shutout and win the game, so I was willing to do whatever it took to try to save a goal from happening.”