It stands to reason that the Northwestern girls soccer team would face its biggest test of the season in the PIAA championship game. While it took double overtime for the Tigers to put away Erie’s Cathedral Prep, Northwestern Lehigh got two goals from senior Paige Bissell in her final high school game and won 2-1 for its first state championship, which came in its first trip to the championship game.

The win gave Northwestern a perfect 28-0-0 record for the season.

The most difficult part of the game for Northwestern was working against what may have been the toughest defense it faced all season.

Northwestern struggled to get in sync against Cathedral Prep (20-3-1), but just when it looked like the two teams would play the entire first half without either team scoring a goal, Northwestern got on the board in the 39th minute of the half.

Bissell took a ball down the left side of the field and put a shot on goal just as goalie Jordan Senz slid to make a save. The ball rebounded off her feet and right back to Bissell, who had a difficult angle to work with but returned the ball toward the net. Defender Maeve Melody attempted to make a save but the ball deflect off her foot and into the goal for a 1-0 Northwestern lead.

Nearly midway through the second half, the Ramblers got on the board when goalie Olivia Reinhart made a save but the ball rebounded to her left. Cathedral Prep’s Olivia Dixon just tapped the ball to the back corner of the goal and tied the game with 21:45 left in regulation.

“We knew that we just weren’t able to finish our chances through a lot of the game,” said Bissell. “But we knew we were going to get more chances and that when we did, we had to capitalize on them.”

Chances for both teams came and went in the first overtime period and early in the second overtime. Neither team was able to break through, but Northwestern controlled much of the play.

Goalies Senz and Reinhard were also playing at the top of their games, including Reinhart making a save and falling to the ground only to have the defender appear to actually roll over her head.

“I knew they were going to come in with a lot of shots, so I had to prepare myself to just go out and get the job done,” said Reinhart, who will be back in goal next season as a senior. “They were a really good team, and we knew it would be a battle, but we played hard and it paid off.”

The defensive units in front of the goalies also played well for both teams as they made impressive plays to blunt an attack by the other team.

“We were getting chance after chance after chance,” said Northwestern coach Jordan Smith. “We just couldn’t get the ball into the back of the net, but the girls stayed confident and kept playing hard until we could look for something that we could finish.”

That opportunity came with 8:39 of the second 20 minute overtime gone and it required some finesse. The ball came back out of the attack zone to sophomore Dylan Ritter, who softly dropped a pass over two defenders to where Bissell could easily get to the ball down the middle.

As Senz came out to defend the play, Bissell put a chip shot over her head that passed just in front of the crossbar and bounced softly to the back of the net for the game-winning shot.

The senior forward barely got to see the ball go into the goal. Senz bent down as part of her attempt to make the play and Bissell tumbled over her.

“I know my team,” said Ritter of how she made the play to Bissell. “I know that Kherington (Yezik) and Paige just follow the ball straight up every time I play it in. I just hoped one of them would get there and Paige is so good at getting it out of the air, she just took a touch and hit it.”

Bissell scored 12 postseason goals for Northwestern this season and had 35 goals on the season to go with 38 assists. Her production came after a surprise change in her role that was made during a summer league game.

“If you would have told me last year that I would have been a striker this season, I would have said no way,” said Bissell, who will play next season at Virginia Wesleyan. “It was something that happened during a summer league game and I was able to play well with the rest of the team, and I was able to develop some finishing skills throughout the season and it came in handy tonight.”

“We just thought over the summer,” said Smith, “that she could play up there because of her physicality and her speed. So we gave it a shot. She really took to the position and has played well there all season for us, and it has paid off a lot.”

Saturday’s game was the first appearance for the team in the state championship after reaching the semifinals last season where it lost to Central Columbia, who the Tigers beat in this year’s quarterfinals.

Seniors and sophomores helped lead the offense this season for Northwestern. Four players had double-digit goals this season for Northwestern, two seniors and two sophomores. The seniors – Brook Balliet and Bissell – combined for 62 goals and 61 assists. The sophomores – Sophia Schaffer and Yezik – combined for 64 goals and 52 assists for the Lady Tigers. Schaffer led the team with 16 postseason goals and Bissell was second with 12.

The team loses just four seniors to graduation in defenders Syenna Flores and Olivia Spatz and forwards Balliet and Bissell - from this season’s team which outscored their opponents 170-12 this season and had 19 shutouts in their 28 games.