Northwestern Lehigh boys, girls advance

Tigers will face Notre Dame-GP in boys final; girls to play Moravian Academy

Last year’s Colonial League soccer finals saw Southern Lehigh and Northwestern Lehigh square off on both the boys’ and girls’ side with the schools splitting the games. This time around in the semifinals, the Tiger boys got revenge for their loss to the Spartans in the 2022 finals and the girls won again to advance to the league championship game.

Boys

Northwestern Lehigh 3,

Southern Lehigh 0: The Tigers are defending state champions in 2A, but had an axe to grind with Southern Lehigh after the Spartans handed them their only loss of the season a year ago. Northwestern (19-0-0) is looking toward another potential state title and was not about to let Southern Lehigh blemish what has been – so far – a perfect season.

Both teams had a couple early opportunities before Northwestern started to gain control. With 28:07 left in the first half, the Tigers were awarded a direct kick and Jacob van Lierop put the kick past a wall of Southern Lehigh defenders and into the net for an early lead. At least van Lierop was credited with the goal but coach Nate Hunsicker credited Isaac Frey with getting just a slight touch on the ball. No matter who got the goal, Northwestern had broken the ice and went up 1-0.

The remainder of the first half saw both teams increase the intensity of play, but both defenses were solid and when a shot did get through, the goalies were up to the task. Late in the half though, Northwestern was gaining an advantage thanks to strong ball handling and with just :30 remaining, van Lierop again had an opportunity to pick up a goal and took advantage of it.

“We had a restart and Timmy [Zellner] put the ball down quick and I knew we could get a quick restart, so I made my run behind center back and when the ball came in, he couldn’t reach it and I just had to give it a little doink to get it over the goalie,” van Lierop said of the goal that made the score 2-0.

Down two goals, Southern Lehigh came out being the aggressor in the second half and made some progress in getting through the Northwestern defense. In most games, Tigers goalkeeper Brandon Krapf is not much more than a spectator, but the Spartans put him to work and Krapf was up to the task.

“I think he [Krapf ] actually broke a sweat tonight,” coach Nate Hunsicker said. “We’re going to need him as we go deeper because we will be playing really good teams and he’s going to have an opportunity to put in some work back there.”

“I didn’t have a lot to do back there this year,” Krapf said. “The guys on defense in front of me are so strong technically and are just really good defenders. I’m glad to have them in front of me.”

As the seconds ticked away, the physical play on the field increased. Southern Lehigh had opportunities but most sailed wide or over the crossbar or were fielded by Krapf. Northwestern Lehigh also had a number of chances, but was thwarted by athletic saves by Spartans goalie Sam Magallanes, who made a number of diving stops to keep the game close.

With just 1:27 left to play, Matt Johnson found himself on a breakaway and finished off the play with a shot past Magallanes to make it a 3-0 game and send Northwestern back to the league finals Saturday against Notre Dame-Green Pond, which downed Moravian Academy 2-1 in the other semifinal.

Northwestern Lehigh 4, Southern Lehigh 0: Northwestern Lehigh was able to get two early corner opportunities and was able to convert both of them into goals. That quick 2-0 lead set the tone for the game as the Tigers punched their ticket to the finals with the shutout. The win gives Northwestern an opportunity to repeat as Colonial League champion.

The first corner for Northwestern came just 1:46 into the game and was turned in by a pair of freshmen players. Sophia Schaffer delivered a shot to the center of the field into a crowd of players where the ball bounced off a Northwestern player and was partially blocked by Spartans goalie Ava Foran. From there, Schaffer’s classmate Alexis Kercher saw the ball rolling free and went on the attack.

“The ball was right there and I just really ran through it and got it to the back of the goal,” Kercher said of the opening goal.

Northwestern continued to control play and was awarded another corner in the seventh minute of play. S chaffer again delivered a strong kick into the center of the field and this time Katie Brensinger was in position to head the ball past Foran for a 2-0 lead.

“I just try to get the ball inside to a spot where someone can make a play,” Schaffer said of her two assists. “We work on that a lot in practice and we did a good job of getting the corners tonight.”

Southern Lehigh began to put some defensive pressure on Northwestern and slow its attack, but the Tigers were able to move through the midfield and as they pushed through the box whistles blew. This time, Northwestern was awarded a penalty kick and junior Syenna Flores rolled it to the right of Foran as the Tigers extended their lead to 3-0.

“They actually played well defensively. We got the two corners and the penalty kick, but other than those, they played us well,” coach Jordan Smith said of the Southern Lehigh defense. “We were able to get through for a lot of shots, but they got tougher around the goal and they put two different goalies out there that did a good job against us.”

Meghan Conron took over in goal for the Spartans in the second half and the defense continued to stiffen against the Tigers. The Southern Lehigh offense also was able to put more pressure on the Northwestern defense, but goalie Olivia Reinhart was able to make a couple of athletic saves to continue the shutout.

Northwestern found an opening in the defense and Cammy Fit ch was able to spot yet another freshman, Kherington Yezik, who had an open look and put a shot past Conron to stretch the lead to 4-0 for the Tigers.

This year’ s finals will match Northwestern Le high, the top seed, against the sixth seed, Moravian Academy. The Lions have pulled off a couple upsets in the tournament, beating third seed Palisades in the wildcard round and then upsetting second seed Saucon Valley Wednesday night in the other semifinal.

EPC finals are also set

The EPC will play its finals Saturday as well. In the boys’ semis Wednesday night, Whitehall came up short in its quest to go from an eighth seed to the finals when the Zephyrs lost to Northampton by a 7-0 score. In the other semifinal, Parkland beat Freedom 2-0 to advance. On the girls’ side, top seed Parkland advanced with a 6-0 win over Emmaus and will now face No. 2 Allentown Central Catholic, which edged Easton 1-0. The site and time for Saturday’s finals has not yet been released.