Pam Colistra took over the Northwestern Lehigh girls lacrosse program this season, making her the team’s fourth head coach in six seasons.

She promised to bring stability to the program and, along with her players, set the lofty goal of reaching the district finals in her first season.

The goal may have seemed far-fetched, especially considering that the Tigers had never won a postseason game, but Colistra and her team made it to Lehigh University’s Frank Banko Field last week for the District 11 2A finals.

To win gold medals, Northwestern had to get past Southern Lehigh, a powerhouse team with four straight 2A championships to its credit.

The Tigers led for much of the game until the Spartans scored with 5:52 left in regulation to take an 8-7 lead that held up the rest of the way. It was the first time that the Spartans led since the first quarter when Leah Colley gave them a 1-0 lead just 6:11 into the game.

Northwestern’s Mykaela Yanders and Olivia Fagan scored goals just :11 apart to put the Tigers on top 2-1 with :26 left in the first quarter. The teams traded goals with Southern’s Piper Gluck and Northwestern’s Cara Thomas picking up goals to take a 3-2 lead at halftime for Northwestern Lehigh. Thomas went on to lead Northwestern with three goals in the game.

Northwestern was 0-2 on free positions in the first two quarters, but converted two of the three free positions they were awarded in the third quarter. The first came from Sydney Wright with Fagan adding the second, to put Northwestern up 5-3.

Southern Lehigh mounted a comeback on goals by Allison Denzel and Riley Bartosz, who scored a game-tying goal when she took the ball off the draw and moved down the field for her second goal of the game and 30th of the season.

Just 1:25 after the Spartans tied the game, Thomas scored her second goal for a short-lived lead. Southern Lehigh was awarded a free position and Lauren Miller was able to race toward the goal and put a shot past Ashley Yacynych to again tie the game at 6-6.

Just :43 into the final quarter, Northwestern looked to make a final run that would lead to gold medals. Thomas raced inside and moved around a defender to beat Houck with a shot to give Northwestern a 7-6 advantage.

On the other side, another senior, Madeline Terefenko, decided that like Thomas, she was not ready to call it a career.

Terefenko scored two goals in just under five minutes with the first coming off a pick set by a teammate to tie the game. With 5:52 left to play, Terefenko worked her way through a crowd to score the winning goal.

Southern Lehigh won the ensuing draw only to have Northwestern swipe the ball away and move down field. After a time-out, the Lady Tigers were unable to connect on a shot and Southern Lehigh took possession with 2:56 left on the clock. Coach Eric Tesche took a time-out and sent his team back on the field for a passing drill that Northwestern was unable to crack before the Spartans had completely drained the clock to capture the win.

“We envisioned this because this is the goal that we all wanted,” said Colistra. “We hung with this team every second of this game and our girls were just phenomenal. They were absolutely amazing.”

Olivia Costa and Olivia Fagan split time taking draws for Northwestern and won 13 of the 19 draws in the game, including two stretches of four straight. Fagan will likely see more time in the spotlight down the road after a strong sophomore season.

“That was something we have been practicing the last few days to see how we could adjust,” said Colistra. “And they were able to make adjustments under pressure. I’m really proud of how both of the girls played.”

While the loss was disappointing for Northwestern players, especially the seniors, they took some solace in having won a playoff game for the first time and advancing to the district finals. The seniors endured a coaching carousel that saw them play under three different coaches in four seasons but came through with silver medals for their efforts.

“I can’t even explain the feeling right now,” said Wright, who missed much of her junior season with an injury. “It’s just so exciting. It’s not the result that we wanted, but I am still so proud just to be involved with this team. Especially with my injury, the fact that our team worked so hard and got to this point is crazy. This proves that our program is for real and that we are better than people think that we are.”