A year ago, Central Columbia ended a dream season for Northwestern Lehigh by beating them in the 2A PIAA semifinals.

In this year’s quarterfinals, the Lady Tigers returned the unwanted favor Saturday by beating the Blue Jays 5-2 to end their season and continue the Northwestern state playoff run.

The scoring started when Mykaela Yanders looked to send the ball in front of the goal in hopes of finding a teammate to finish the play. Instead, even with no real angle to work with and a good distance from the goal, Yanders wound up with a goal of her own that started the day for Northwestern.

“Paige (Bissell) dropped the ball back to me and I was looking for the cross,” said Yanders. “ But it ended up with me shooting it and the wind helped me and put it right over (goalie Braelyn Moran’s) hands. I was actually surprised that it went in.”

Before Yanders’ goal, Moran made a diving play to stop a shot by Bissell as Northwestern (26-0-0) looked to gain early momentum and a bit of confidence.

The momentum gained from Yanders’ goal was short-lived as Blue Jays senior Haley Bull, who was a thorn in the Tigers’ side in last year’s semifinal loss, scored to make it a 1-1 game.

While the momentum shifted, the confidence was still all there for Northwestern.

The Tigers’ Syenna Flores was warded a free kick from about 35 yards out in what closely resembled a goal by Syenna Flores in the opening round game where she put one into the net from about the same distance.

This time, the senior defender kept the ball on the ground and Sophia Schaffer beat Moran to the ball and tucked it into the net under Moran, who dove to make a stop but came up empty as Northwestern regained the lead 2-1.

Four minutes later, Bissell took a pass from Dylan Ritter and headed it over one defender, maneuvered around a second and then took on Moran one-on-one. Again, Bissell slid around her to tap the ball into the goal for her 32nd goal of the season as the Tigers held a 3-1 halftime lead.

“It’s exciting because we lost to them last year in the semifinal,” said Bissel. “So to come back and beat them in the quarterfinal is great. We knew we had to play tough and play physical and we did that and took care of it offensively and defensively and got a good result.”

Bissell and goalie Olivia Reinhart took over in the second half as Bissell dished off two assists and Reinhart showed off her ability to make athletic stops in the air and on the ground as Central Columbia looked for an opening to fight back.

Bissell’s first assist came on a pass to Schaffer, who put her shot past a diving Moran to give the Tigers a three-goal advantage. Bissell added another assist when Kherington Yezik was able to redirect a ball into the cage to make it a 5-1 game.

In the last minute of play, Central’s Kayl Dreckman launched a shot toward the upper part of the goal and Reinhart leapt to make a play, but the ball went off of her hands to cut the lead to 5-2.

“We played great,” said Northwestern head coach Jordan Smith. “I knew at halftime that we couldn’t sit on that 3-1 lead and to be able to go out there and get that fourth and fifth goal was deflating for them, and it boosted us. It’s the fourth time that the program has gotten to the semifinals but haven’t been able to get past that, so we’ll try to make that next step on Tuesday.”

The Blue Jays (20-2-0) came into the game with one loss and only 10 goals allowed all season but finished the year with two losses and 15 goals allowed. Northwestern handed them both losses and with their 1-0 win over Central Columbia early in the regular season, scored six of the 15 goals that the Lady Jays allowed on the season.