The Northwestern soccer program took a huge step forward in 2015 when it won for the first time ever in the PIAA tournament and wound up advancing to the semifinals before bowing out.

This season, the Tigers moved swiftly through to the state finals where they ran into nationally-ranked Lower Dauphin (28-0), who downed the Tigers 3-0 to deny Northwestern their first state championship.

In the early going, Northwestern (24-1-1) had the momentum with early chances that had the Falcons on their heels. Just over eight minutes into the game, Northwestern received a free kick that went a few feet from the net directly in the middle of the field. A Lower Dauphin player got above the others and headed the ball away from the net, thwarting the Northwestern opportunity.

Three-minutes later, Andrew Goodolf had a breakaway opportunity and fired a laser, but put the ball just over the crossbar. It was just a couple of minutes after that when another free kick opportunity came up from about 35 yards out, but again Lower Dauphin was able to withstand the challenge, leaving the Tigers scoreless for their efforts.

“We came out strong and had three real good chances before they even got their first goal,” said coach Nate Hunsicker. “We had a lot of momentum and were charged up, but just couldn’t break through for anything. If we hit on just one of those shots, it could be a different game. That could have made a big difference for us.”

Lower Dauphin took back the momentum when senior Tim Townsend fired a free-kick past senior goalie Kyle Bellhorn to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead. Bellhorn was screened by players in front of him, leaving him to react late to the shot.

While Lower Dauphin tried to build on the momentum, it was the Falcons’ turn to be turned away. A header went just wide of the goal and Bellhorn made a spectacular diving play to stop another shot and keep the Tigers in the game, trailing just 1-0 at the half.

Northwestern’s intensity wasn’t quite as high in the second half and Lower Dauphin had a lot of opportunities to fire shots at Bellhorn. Jackson Becher got off a solid shot from the right front side of the goal just four minutes into the second half, but Northwestern’s Tom Creighton deflected the ball and Bellhorn came up with the save.

Less than ten-minutes later, Bellhorn made another diving save on a shot by Townsend, followed by a shot from Nick Iagnemma that went wide of the goal.

“Kyle [Bellhorn] played a heck of a game,” said Hunsicker. “I think he was thinking he had a defender who could play that first one out and then he got shielded. We sometimes have a problem marking players and that’s what happened on that first goal.”

As Northwestern looked to move the play to the other end of the field, Lower Dauphin got a breakaway with Becher drawing Bellhorn out of the net. Becher drove a shot toward the goal and Jonathan Blaine attempted to make a defensive save, but wound up kicking the ball into the net. Becher would add his second goal of the game with just under three-minutes left to play to make it 3-0.

In their two state tournament wins last season, Northwestern didn’t allow a goal, outscoring Pottsgrove and Gettysburg by a combined score of 8-0. In this year’s tournament, they also didn’t allow a goal in their first three games, beating Athens 1-0, Daniel Boone 2-0 and Gettysburg 1-0 before bowing to Lower Dauphin.