Northampton weathered a very tough start to their schedule in decent shape, finishing 2-2 against Whitehall (1-2, 1-2), Notre Dame-Green Pond (1-1), Central Catholic (1-2, 1-2) and Parkland (4-0, 4-0). They also added a win against Nazareth this past Monday to put their record at 3-2 after coming into the season with a few question marks about their team.

“For the most part, the part that we were really worried about, because we graduated a lot of seniors off of our defensive line, is doing well. We’ve had a lot of players who changed their positions and really helped us out this year. They’ve been doing really well, so as long as that part stays it’s going well,” explained coach Chaz Saul.

Against Central, who came into the season ranked second among girls soccer teams, Northampton fell behind 3-0 before they got a goal just before half-time to cut the lead to 3-1. Saul stressed at the break that the girls had to take things one step at a time and chip away at the lead while not allowing Central Catholic to put any more goals on the board.

Just into the second half, Northampton scored again to make it 3-2 and later tied the game. The two teams went into overtime and with just 19 left in the first overtime, Abigail Czarnecki scored on a penalty kick to give Northampton the win.

“They were really happy. It was one of those things where we got one back just before half-time, and in the huddle, it was basically just about not worrying about tying or winning the game, and taking it one goal at a time. Suddenly, it’s 3-2 and momentum is a wonderful thing when it’s on your side. We managed to get one more and then through overtime and it came down to that penalty kick,” said Saul, who believes the tough early schedule was good for building some confidence for his team.

Through their first five games, Northampton has allowed just under three goals per game. The defensive numbers were skewed against a tough Parkland team that put on an impressive second half offensive display to beat the Kids 7-0. The realigned lineup is adjusting well to their new roles and figures to keep improving as the season progresses.

“They’re actually saying that they enjoy playing together and they’re not used to having that person back there with them and it’s worked out really well. We think we can score, but this [the loss to Parkland] is a bit of a set back and it hurts a little bit,” said Saul.

Against the Lady Trojans (4-0, 4-0), Northampton worked early on to try to slow down the Parkland attack. Going into half-time, Parkland had worked their way to a 2-0 advantage and with some adjustments at the half, came up with five second half goals to put the game away.

“You really have to give Parkland credit. Top to bottom on their roster, there is so much that you have to keep playing against. Eventually, they just find ways to score,” Saul noted. “In the first half, we tried to do some things differently to see about slowing them down a little; sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. I was actually happy that we got out of there at 2-0. We did have some looks, we just didn’t capitalize on some opportunities, and it would have been nice to have at least one.”

Czarnecki and Madison Watson scored for Northampton in the win over Nazareth Monday. The rest of the week features a game against winless Dieruff (0-4, 0-4), before heating up again with a game at Easton (5-0, 5-0), followed by a tough Freedom (4-1, 5-1) next Tuesday.