Time is getting short for teams to qualify for district playoffs and Northwestern’s girls lacrosse team needs some wins down the stretch to reach the postseason.

The Tigers had an abbreviated schedule thanks to the Easter holiday as they faced another team in need of late-season wins in the Freedom Patriots.

Freedom got the opening goal of the game, pushed its lead to 2-0 and never trailed from that point in a 20-10 win over Northwestern.

Sydney Wright put the Tigers on the board with 6:24 left in the first quarter to cut Freedom’s lead to 2-1, but the Patriots scored four unanswered goals until Olivia Costa struck for Northwestern late in the quarter.

Another Freedom goal made it 7-2 after one quarter.

Looking to get the jump on Freedom, Mykaela Yanders struck to make it 7-3 but the Lady Pates fired right back and opened a 10-3 lead with 3:19 left before halftime. With 1:54 left, Olivia Fagan scored her first of two goals that would come within 1:52, but a goal by Freedom between the two goals left the Tigers trailing 11-5 at halftime.

The teams traded goals through the first 9:00 of the third quarter with Wright getting her second goal, Cara Thomas adding a goal and an assist, Costa notching her second goal and Ella Collins also getting a Northwestern goal. Freedom scored three straight goals in the final 2:00 to hold a commanding 17-9 lead.

Thomas added Northwestern’s only fourth-quarter goal with 9:47 left in the game as Freedom went on to get the win.

The Tigers have seven regular season games remaining and are 4-7 on the season.

The next two games are against two of the best teams from the EPC in Easton (9-4) and Nazareth (12-2) and both are on the road. They return home on Monday to play Northampton (1-13).

The final four games include two games against Moravian Academy (0-8) and one each against Saucon Valley (4-5) and Southern Lehigh (8-3).