During the regular season, Northwestern Lehigh and Moravian Academy split their two meetings with each team defending their home field. Their third meeting came on neutral ground in the District 11 semifinals, held Tuesday night at Emmaus High School.

The Lions took down the Tigers 10-7 to advance to the district championship for the first time in the school’s history.

Moravian had three two-goal leads evaporate as Northwestern battled from behind.

The first comeback came after Moravian took a 2-0 lead just three minutes into the game and featured two goals by Uricchio and the 50th goal of the season by sophomore Tyler Kaas to put Northwestern up 3-2. Moravian came back to tie the game and then take a 5-3 lead to set up the next rebound for Northwestern when Michael Lagowy and Kendall Wikert logged goals, knotting the game at 5-5 with 7:06 left in the third.

“We just had to keep coming back at them,” said Kaas. “They’re a tough team and they didn’t let up, so it became a real battle. We played well and didn’t let ourselves get too down on ourselves and just kept pushing both offensively and defensively.”

Moravian scored twice within 1:16 in the final quarter and seemed destined to reach the finals with a 7-5 lead, but again, Northwestern delayed the gratification. Wikert found the smallest of openings between goalie Brady Hopstetter and the post to sneak a shot to the back of the net to make it 7-6. A steal at the other end gave Northwestern a transition opportunity as they set for just the right play. Uricchio, who is often among the smallest players on the field, was able to sneak between a pair of bigger defenders to take a pass from Kaas and quickly fire it into the goal before the Moravian defense could react.

“I couldn’t be prouder of these guys,” said coach Marcus Janda. “From the day we started this program, I have had kids that battled and gave all that they could, and this group was no different. They showed what they’re made of today with how they kept coming back and they can be proud of what they accomplished.”

Unfortunately for Northwestern (11-8), the Lions won the ensuing faceoff and needed just :08 to find Cade Dancho, who scored his 23rd goal of the season to give Moravian an 8-7 advantage with 3:12 left in regulation. Following the goal, Dancho was called for unsportsmanlike conduct, leaving Moravian (11-6) to play a man down. The deficit didn’t seem to faze them as Faust Capobianco struck with 2:23 left to play to provide some insurance and Berkley Weidner wrapped up the win with a goal in the final minute of play.

“We made some mistakes and there were some areas where we needed to clean things up a little,” said Janda. “You have to tip your hat to them though because they played a great game and were able to take advantage of any mistakes we made. They’re a good team and well coached and they were able to get us today.”

Kaas was covered heavily by the Moravian defense throughout the game, limiting his opportunities.

“It was really tough for me to find open spots,” said Kaas, who led Northwestern in goals this season. “Since I couldn’t do a lot to help, I just let my team go five-on-five and looked for spots to help where I could. It just wasn’t working out for me.”

While Moravian is making its debut in the district finals, Allentown Central Catholic (16-3) will play in their fifth straight District 11 2A championship after defeating Southern Lehigh.

Following the game, Janda announced that he was stepping down as Northwestern’s coach. Janda, whose been at the helm since the program’s inception, has coached the team through six seasons and led it to a district championship in 2023.

“I have two young kids and I’m missing time with them,” said Janda. “They’ve already got sticks in their hands and are going to be playing in youth leagues and I want to be there for that.”