The Northwestern boys and girls soccer teams produced the greatest soccer seasons in the school’s history in 2024.

Both teams went 28-0 and ended the year with championships in the Colonial League, District 11 and at the state level. For the boys, it was their second state championship in three years while the girls captured their first ever state title.

For the second straight season, the boys record book also had to be rewritten thanks to seniors who capped their careers with big seasons.

In 2023 it was senior Matt Johnson who ended an impressive high school career by surpassing the old mark of 81 career goals when he finished with 101 goals in four varsity seasons.

With the record still pretty fresh on their minds, seniors Jacob van Lierop and Jake Mauro and junior Logan Mesics were talking about Johnson’s mark and wondering if any of them had a shot at breaking it.

Van Lierop had 31 career goals in three seasons. Mauro had 38 and Mesics had 18 goals in two varsity seasons, and they decided it could be done but would be tough.

Mauro (16 goals, 30 assists) and Mesics (20 goals, 17 assists) have both put together good seasons and played huge roles in the Tigers undefeated championship season in 2024. Mauro and van Lierop will both be graduating this spring, but Mesics will be back for his senior season with a total of 38 career goals.

While he would need a monster senior year to get to the top of the record book, it’s not impossible as van Lierop proved this season.

In the PIAA semifinals against Notre Dame – Green Pond, van Lierop scored three goals to put himself at 102 for his career. His 74 goals this season is also a record for goals in a single season.

“Obviously, it‘s come to fruition,” said van Lierop after the semifinal win. “It’s a great feeling, but it was a pipe dream. You never really thought it was going to happen, but then you start moving through the season and like maybe.”

The way van Lierop’s season began you might have thought he was determined to get the record from the season opening game against Pennsbury when he scored three goals in a 4-0 win.

In three August games, van Lierop scored 10 goals and then scored 12 goals in three games when he scored four each against Jim Thorpe, Palisades, and Notre Dame – Green Pond.

The senior scored multiple goals in the first eight games of the season and 36 goals in the month of September, including a career-high five goals against Salisbury.

Playing limited minutes in a nonleague season finale against Kutztown, van Lierop didn’t score a goal but did pick up an assist to keep his mark of having a goal or an assist in every varsity game he has played in alive and well.

Next up came seven goals and four assists as the Tigers won the Colonial League championship and four goals and two assists as the Tigers became District 11 2A champions.

In states, van Lierop opened by resetting his career-high for goals in a game when he scored six against Midd-West.

Johnson’s exit allowed for a change in roles for van Lierop, which helped facilitate his huge senior season.

“We were kind of utilizing him in different roles in his previous two seasons,” said Northwestern head coach Nate Hunsicker. “Even from freshman year on, he was more of a possession guy, facilitator of the offense. Now, he‘s leading the front line of the attack.

“He told me the beginning of the season he was hunting Matt‘s record and I just kind of gave him a wry smile and I was like, ’good luck buddy. You‘ve got to score a heck of a lot of goals to make that happen.’ And I enjoyed every single one.”

Van Lierop admits he put in some extra work during the offseason in hopes of putting up big numbers and helping fill the hole left by Johnson’s departure. The work has been an ongoing process of simply understanding the game and his role in it more than he did in previous seasons.

“I think mentally and tactically I improved a lot more than technically,” said van Lierop. “I think I adapted and understood the situations I was being put in more and where I could get the ball to score.

“I also think just playing up top more and getting in those reps and getting the ball from all these guys, being able to work with them and understanding how they’re going to play. Just putting that all together helped.”

His mark of having a goal or an assist in every varsity game he has played is still intact and it reached 69 straight games as Van Lierop scored three goals against Cathedral Prep on Saturday to contribute to one final goal that both he and the team have had since their first practice of the season - a state championship.

“It’s amazing, just amazing,” said van Lierop of the most recent state gold medal. “We were really disappointed last season when we didn’t repeat and we came in this year really wanting to be champions again and we did it.”