It’s hard to predict how a team will respond to a loss.

But if Northwestern’s District 11 Class 2A girls’ soccer quarterfinal against Lehighton is any indication, the Tigers will be just fine.

After falling to Southern Lehigh in penalty kicks in the Colonial League semifinals last week, Northwestern bounced back Tuesday with a 7-0 victory to move on to the semifinals.

The Tigers will face Salisbury, which earned an 8-0 quarterfinal win over Tamaqua, Thursday in the semis.

“It’s the first time we’ve played since we lost on penalty kicks, and that’s a rough way to lose,” Northwestern head coach Kelly Bleam said of the 2-1 (4-3) loss to the Spartans last Tuesday. “It was good to get out and have success in a game environment, where everybody got to play. Everybody on the roster got to play, which was awesome, and it felt like the girls had some fun today.

“It’s a good way to start a tournament for our team.”

Sara Hathaway made sure the second-seeded Tigers started on the right foot, drilling a penalty kick into the back of the net less than three minutes into the game.

“I think it was awesome to get going early, to score early on,” Bleam said. “And then to follow that first goal up with a couple more in the first 10 minutes of the game. It was awesome for us.

“The girls have to keep in mind that our next opponent might present a much different challenge for us, so we have to make sure we prepare for that kind of a challenge moving forward.”

The goal ignited a flurry of first half scores for Northwestern and Hathaway. The sophomore struck for two more goals to complete the hat trick and the Tigers built a 7-0 lead after the first 40 minutes of play.

Logan Collins scored twice, while Morgan Moss and Abby Chisdak also found the back of the net.

“We absolutely need different people to step up and put the ball in the back of the net because we’ve had our center back (Emily Renner) off with an injury for many weeks,” Bleam said of one of the squad’s top defenders. “And Abby (Chisdak), who probably could have easily been our team’s leading scorer, has been playing center back for us.

“With Abby in the back, we need other people to step up and score goals. So it’s really important that we have other people who are doing that.”

Northwestern and Salisbury, which lost 2-0 to Southern Lehigh in the Colonial League championship game, played to a 1-1 tie in their first meeting this season on Sept. 22.

Though Renner had missed significant time with an injury, the senior did see the field in the second half Tuesday while wearing a protective brace for her arm.

“It was nice to see [Emily] Renner back on the field,” Bleam said. “She’s certainly far from 100 percent, but it’s nice for her as a senior to be able to get out on to the field today and play in a couple of different positions while she’s trying to gain some confidence and comfort in her center back position.”