The Northwestern Lehigh boys soccer team left Blue Mountain High School Stadium with a 4-0 win over Faith Christian in last week’s PIAA Class 2A quarterfinals.

Faith Christian (20-1-0) had some early success controlling the ball, but Tiger senior goalkeeper Brandon Krapf denied the Lions with several key stops. The inability of the Lions to convert early opportunities shifted the momentum to the Tigers (26-0-0).

The setting was similar to last season when the Tigers’ season ended to Camp Hill in a game at Blue Mountain.

“We definitely thought about it (last year’s quarterfinals) because it was on the same field at the same time and the girls played first, but we came in today and got the job done,” said Logan Mesics.

On one of the best early opportunities for Northwestern came when Jacob van Lierop attempted a bicycle kick to break the scoreless tie but put the shot over the crossbar. Shortly after the play, Northwestern was awarded a free kick.

Jack Mauro, who specializes in free kicks, lofted one into the penalty area where it ping-ponged off of a defender to Mesics, who played it past goalie Ryan Sigafoos to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead with 18:25 left in the opening half.

“There were a bunch of bodies there,” said Mesics. “I had tried to head it and I think it went off of a defender and then it just dropped down to me. At that point, you’re that close, you’re just trying to smash it as hard as you can into the back of the net.”

As the clock moved under two minutes, Northwestern again went on the attack and was awarded a corner. Mauro took the kick and placed it perfectly in front of the goal where Mesics rose above a ring of defenders and headed the ball just under the crossbar for a 2-0 edge with just 1:45 remaining until halftime.

If the play was a little chippy in the first half, it became downright physical for the final 40 minutes.

Carlos Megias was given a yellow card for pulling down Mesics and four minutes later, Austin Bittenbender was given a yellow for Northwestern. As the officials worked to restore order, Northwestern cleared a ball through the midfield that van Lierop played in stride to take on Sigafoos one-on-one.

As Sigafoos came out to contest the play, van Lierop took a simple sidestep to the left as Sigafoos dove. The Tiger senior tapped the ball in for a 3-0 lead.

Krapf added to the Lions’ frustration by stopping every shot they were put on goal. Faith Christian’s Ryan Noel took a free kick from the same spot that Mauro had sent a ball to Mesics for the first goal and was able to put it between the heads of two defenders on the wall. As the ball curved toward the open goal, Krapf stepped up to make an easy catch to again turn away the Lions.

The Tigers made it 4-0 with 8:44 left to play when Cole Mertz took the ball downfield with van Lierop open to his right. As the pair approached the goal, Sigafoos decided to key on van Lierop. Mertz put a shot right where Sigafoos had moved from.

“I am beyond excited,” said Northwestern head coach Nate Hunsicker. “ We knew this was not going to be an easy task by any stretch. I think it lived up to the bill; number one in the state versus number two in the state and we absolutely proved our worth here today. That’s a really tough team over there and they were a tough matchup for us, but we did just enough to make it work.”