The Northwestern field hockey team competed in the Colonial League playoffs Saturday and Monday.

The Tigers earned the No. 4 seed and beat No. 5 Saucon Valley in Saturday’s quarterfinal round. They moved on to face top-seeded Southern Lehigh in Monday’s semifinals and fell 1-0 in overtime.

Northwestern-So. Lehigh

The last time Northwestern and Southern Lehigh met during the regular season, the Spartans prevailed in overtime.

Monday in the Colonial League field hockey semifinals, the Tigers and Spartans took that one step further, needing double overtime to decide a winner.

Unfortunately for head coach Lissa Opolsky and her Tigers, the result was the same as the Spartans walked off with a 3-2 victory.

With the win, the No. 1 seeded Spartans advance to Wednesday’s Colonial League final.

“Historically they’re (Southern Lehigh) a great team,” said Opolsky. “They’re coached well. Some good talent,” Opolsky said. “So, we knew going in it was going to be a fight. Unfortunately, we dug ourselves a little bit of a hole in the beginning of the game. We didn’t play very well, adapting to what they were throwing at us.

“Once we settled in and got some footing, we were able to make some ground. It’s just a testament to our girls that they could come back from being down two goals and fight until there was no time left on the clock.”

Down 2-1 in the waning moments of regulation, Northwestern was awarded a penalty corner with no time left on the clock. The Tigers tied the game on a goal by Ally Meyers.

“We did a play that was designed for Ally, and she was able to get off a good shot to the corner of the net,” said Opolsky.

Neither the Tigers nor the Spartans could get the game-winner in the first overtime, but the Spartans finally ended it in the second overtime.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way, but I think it was a telling game of what type of team we can be,” said Opolsky.

It may be the end of the road for the Tigers as far as the Colonial League playoffs go, but the Tigers saw firsthand on the turf at Palisades High School what is needed to taste victory in huge playoff games like this.

The league playoffs may be over, but the Tigers are ready to rebound and make noise in the district playoffs.

“We’re playing really good hockey, strategy-wise,” Opolsky said. “The girls are obviously learning a lot about themselves each game, themselves as a team. We’re looking forward to the next step in districts, and just trying to go further than we did before.”

N’western-Saucon Vy.

Saturday’s Colonial League quarterfinal playoff contest between Northwestern and Saucon Valley was nearly a duplicate of the first meeting between the two field hockey teams.

Northwestern posted a 3-0 win in the regular season contest and it scored another 3-0 victory over the weekend.

The lone stumbling block for Northwestern was a late start in trying to figure out the Panthers defensive scheme.

Tiger head coach Lissa Opolsky admitted it took some time to come up with the right offensive approach.

“Saucon came in with a different (defensive) strategy,” she said. “They knew that we like to transfer the ball. We did a good job of staying poised, and as the game went on, we figured it out.”

The first goal was unassisted with 6:34 to go in the opening half off the stick of Lauren Schellhamer. The standout player also added her team’s third goal.

“We really stepped it up,” said Schellhamer, who also had an assist in the contest. “We played very well today.”

Brynn Balliet, who finished with a goal and an assist for the winners, was also pleased with the team’s effort.

“It was a very big win,” said Balliet, a sophomore. “We had to come in and play real hard … we couldn’t let them (dictate).”

A lot of the angst seemed to go away for the Tigers when they fired in an early second-half goal to take a 2-0 lead. Balliet picked up the goal with Schellhamer assisting.

Northwestern put the game out of reach with 8:45 to play when Schellhamer poked in her second goal of the contest. Balliet added the assist.