Salisbury and Palisades lucked out with the weather for the first round of the Colonial League field hockey playoffs Saturday at Southern Lehigh High School

But the Pirates had little luck in stopping the Falcons.

With the weather sometimes blustery and cold, and other times bright and warm, top seed Salisbury stayed consistent with a goal in each quarter to gain a 4-0 win, eliminate Palisades and advance to the semifinal round to take on No. 4 seed Northwestern.

Palisades goalie Ava Green was strong in goal and made 12 saves. But Salisbury applied consistent pressure, finishing with 16 shots on goal.

Katie Carbone was the first one to slide a shot past Green and gave the Falcons 1-0 lead in the first quarter.

The eighth-seeded Pirates found some answers defensively in the second quarter and limited the shots on goal and also cut down on the corners that they allowed Salisbury. When the Lady Falcons picked up just their second corner of the quarter, Ellie Schneider fed a pass to senior Gwyn DeFazio, who beat Green and put her team up 2-0.

With a little room to maneuver, Salisbury came out of the halftime break and looked more like the team it was in the first quarter than in the second.

With four more corners added to the Falcons’ total, it was somewhat ironic that their third quarter goal did not come on a corner play.

Kendra Morgan found Anna Grubb near the mouth of the goal. The sophomore forward finished the play to give her team a 3-0 advantage.

“I saw Kendra coming down with it and I was right at the post,” said Grubb. “What was going through my head was ‘just get it in’ and when Kendra hit out, I was able to pop it right in.”

Early in the fourth quarter, DeFazio got her second goal of the game with Ryley Shoemaker getting the assist.

“We’re pretty confident,” said Grubb. “We’re definitely ready and we’re not done. We’re ready to keep going as far as we can and definitely ready for what’s ahead.”

Salisbury (17-1) has the distinction of being the only team in the league to defeat Southern Lehigh (15-3), Northwestern Lehigh (14-5) and Bangor (15-4) this season.

If the Falcons get past Northwestern in Tuesday’s semifinals, they will face either the Spartans or Slaters in the league title game Thursday. Southern Lehigh holds the distinction of being the only team to beat Salisbury this season, which came in the season finale.

“I don’t think our approach changes,” said DeFazio. “Losing to Southern Lehigh did change our mindset a little and maybe exposed some flaws and some trouble areas. We were excited to get back at it today and play whoever we come up against not just in leagues, but in districts. We’re excited about what we can achieve.”

Defensively, Salisbury contained the Palisades attack and goalie Caroline Gedney did not need to make any saves in the game.

Salisbury had 12 corners in the game and Palisades didn’t have any corner opportunities.