In two previous meetings, Northwestern girls soccer team had beaten Saucon Valley 8-0 and 8-1.

Even with those numbers behind them, the Lady Tigers were taking nothing for granted in the third meeting of the two teams Tuesday night in the District 11 Class 2A semifinals at Palmerton’s Bomber Stadium.

Northwestern came in as focused as ever and left with its focus shifted to its next trip to Palmerton, which will be Thursday night in the district finals after beating the Panthers 9-1 in the semis.

The Panthers (13-6-0) tried to throw a little wrinkle at Northwestern (23-0-0) in the semifinal game and had four backs to help the defense. That plan abandoned by the middle of the first half.

“You always have to analyze how their defense is playing,” said Northwestern head coach Jordan Smith. “And they were playing a flat-back four, and when they do that those long diagonal balls are effective. Especially with the speed that we have, we were able to utilize that and put a couple into the back of the net.

“I thought we played a phenomenal 80 minutes in all phases of the game and all levels on the field. Possession was very crisp, and we did a good job of finding the open player.”

Amelia Glassberg was the first Northwestern player to take advantage of the formation when she played a long ball down the field to Kherington Yezik, who launched her shot from about 20 yards away from the net, but saw it sail past goalie Alaina Jacavage.

In the next four minutes, Marly DeLillo fed Sophia Schaffer with a ball that made its way past the defender, allowing Schaffer to put Northwestern up 2-0.

DeLillo’s second assist came on a ball that she sent to the same area with Glassberg in pursuit of the defender. Glassberg won the foot race to the ball and beat Jacavage to make it 3-0 in favor of the Tigers with 25:24 left in the first half.

“It was really exciting,” said DeLillo. “I was really happy to contribute to the offensive path tonight. They really filled the middle, so I just saw the outside and saw she was open, so I put the ball down to her.”

While Saucon Valley was unable to score against Northwestern in their regular season meeting, the Panthers are the only team to score against the Tigers in the postseason.

Senior Tesia Mikuta was the one to score for the Panthers in the Colonial League semifinal game and her classmate Elliot Policare kept her team from being shutout in the latest meeting when she fired a shot from the left side to cut Northwestern’s lead to 3-1.

Northwestern added a fourth goal just two minutes after Saucon Valley’s goal. It came from Schaffer, who fired a shot from the left side of the goal to the top corner on the far side, well out of reach of Jacavage.

Yezik added her second goal of the night on a free kick 32 yards away from the goal. Juliet Snyder then used the right side of the net for another Northwestern goal with just :58 left in the half.

In the second half, Northwestern worked primarily on defense but did find time for three goals.

Schaffer finished her hat trick. Ava Snyder delivered a nearly identical goal to make it 8-1. Snyder made it a multiple goal game for herself with her second goal with 8:10 remaining in regulation.

“Even with how well we’re playing,” said Snyder. “We have to stay focused because we’re at the point where we can lose this with just one loss, so we stay focused on getting the gold and having fun in these games.”

That focus is making it tougher for opposing teams to find holes in the Tigers game that they can exploit. Even against a team that they had handled in two previous games, the players never took anything for granted.

“I think we all have this mentality that we don’t want to go home,” said DeLillo. “So we always try to bring the same energy and bring the same mentality to every game; that’s been working for us so far.”

Northwestern looks to win its fourth straight district championship Thursday night when it faces Allentown Central Catholic. While both teams are guaranteed a spot in states, the district champion hosts a first-round PIAA game.

Schaffer scores 100th goal in D-11 quarterfinal

Another night, another milestone for the Tigers.

Not only did Northwestern stretch its state-record winning streak to 50 games in its district quarterfinal win over Palmerton Wednesday night, but junior forward Sophia Schaffer picked up the 100th goal of her career.

Schaffer finished with two goals and an assists in the 5-0 win at Tigers Stadium.

“I never figured that I would be able to get to 100 goals this early,” said the junior forward. “It was definitely nice to get it early in the game and get it out of the way.”

Northwestern’s speed and postseason experience was just too much for the Blue Bombers.

Just over five minutes into the game, Northwestern put its first goal on the board when Schaffer sent a crossing pass in front of the goal and Mykaela Yanders was able to get in front of the ball for a quick shot past goalie Taylor Wasilewski. Schaffer’s 100th goal came just about three minutes later to make it 2-0 in favor of the Tigers.

“It’s definitely a different feeling to get a goal in a game like this than in a regular season game, especially now that we’re in districts,” said Yanders. “We always work to get an early goal, so it was nice to get that one and get a lead.”

Northwestern kept pressure on the Palmerton defense, and Wasilewski was called on to make a number of athletic saves to keep the game from getting out of hand. On the other side, Palmerton’s offense was constantly marked tightly by Northwestern defenders throughout the game.

With 15:11 left to play in the first half, junior Bella Smith was able to sneak a pass in front of Palmerton’s defenders to get it to Schaffer on the left side of the net. Wasilewski was caught out of position and unable to make it back to get the save on Schaffer’s shot.

The Tigers kept up the pressure offensively in the second half, but Wasilewski and Palmerton’s defense were able to fend off the shots.

Kherington Yezik found some open space down the right side of the field and as she looked to turn the play inside, she was brought down in the box and awarded a penalty kick. On the kick, Yezik put it just inside the right post for a 4-0 lead with 27:48 left in regulation.

The Tigers got a final score when Juliet Snyder sent a ball in front of the goal and into a crowd of players. Amelia Glassberg emerged from the group with the ball and had an easy shot into the back of the goal to make it 5-0.

“We were playing possession a lot and we worked it up the field and Schafer crossed the ball in and I was just there at the right time and just had to put a toe poke on the ball to get it in,” said Glassberg of her goal, her 14th of the season.

Wasilewski finished the game with nine saves, and Palmerton recorded three defensive saves. Northwestern’s Olivia Reinhart spent the majority of the game by herself in front of the net and needed to make just one save in the game.

Palmerton, who has three freshmen starters and five more freshmen on its roster, finished its season with a 7-10 record. Meanwhile, Northwestern moves on to defend its 2024 district championship.

“We definitely have a young team and will have a lot of returners next year; a lot of good competitors,” said Palmerton coach Jon Perloni. “This is what you have to expect when you get to this level and you’re playing the best team in the state, and they showed why tonight.”