Northwestern Lehigh may have gotten a bit of a look into the future last week when a freshman player scored the lone goal in the Lady Tigers’ 1-0 win in the District 11 championship game against Pottsville in a rematch of the 2020 district finals. Even though Northwestern has 14 seniors on its roster, it was Brook Balliet who came through to put gold medals around her teammate’s necks.

The Tigers have come out playing a little laid back in the first half over the past couple of games and the same was true against Pottsville. They came out playing more aggressively in the second half and it showed on the scoreboard.

In the ninth minute of the second half, Balliet fought her way toward a flock of Crimson Tide defenders to wind up at the front of the net just as the ball approached off a shot by senior Sophia Motolese. Unfortunately for Balliet, Pottsville goalie Ava Cesari saw the same thing and went after the ball. The two arrived at the ball at the same moment, but Balliet was able to get a foot and her face on the ball before the collision between the two and the shot rolled easily into the net for the game winner.

“I got my foot on it and then, I think it bounced off her (Cesari) and then hit me in the face,” said Balliet. “My eye kind of hurt and I was on the ground, and everyone came over to me and was like ‘it’s in.’ It’s feels amazing to be able to help the team like that in my first season. The seniors and all of the other players have been so supportive and have really helped me this season and it feels good to get this one for the team.”

Much like Northwestern Lehigh, Pottsville came out playing timidly as the two teams shared control of the ball. The game plan for the Lady Tigers was to put a high number of shots on goal, which they did, but Pottsville turned away the shots and charged to the other end of the field looking to gain momentum and a lead.

“We wanted to take shots from distance, we wanted to get traffic in the goal mouth, and we did,” said coach Jordan Smith. “Soph (Motolese) took a great shot and it deflected to Brook, who was there to clean it up. She got beat up for the goal, but it’s a game-winner and I’m sure it was worth it.”

From there, Northwestern Lehigh relied on its defense to keep the Tide off the board, but also kept up offensive pressure. Also not stopping was the Pottsville offense, which looked for ways to go either through or around the Lady Tigers defense.

Northwestern defenders have perfected something that can sometimes go unnoticed but was a major weapon for them in districts. When defenders clear balls, they get more distance on their kicks than any set of defensive players in the area. The kicks not only clear the ball from their opponent’s attack zone, but many times gives the team breakaway opportunities going the other way.

The longer the game went on, the more determined and aggressive the Pottsville became. With the game clock under the 3:00 mark, Pottsville again threatened.

Tiger goalie Naomi Glassberg made a nice stop on a shot but was unable to coral the ball and it bounded toward the other side of the net. Pottsville had an opportunity, but defender Emelia Blechschmidt was there to clear the ball.

“Naomi made a save, but the ball bounced away from her,” said Blechschmidt about her game saver. “I was able to get to the ball and just clear it out.”

Northwestern reached the finals after downing Blue Mountain 2-0 in the semifinals. In that game, Kaitlyn Browning picked up a goal in the first half when she played a perfectly placed free kick from senior Sophia Motolese. The one-goal lead held up until Quinn Conrey put the game out of reach with 3:15 left in regulation after she played a corner kick from Samantha Bardonner and placed it just inside the far post.