A year ago, opposing goalies would look out and see Jacob Van Lierop coming at them and know they were in trouble.

They knew he was probably going to shoot and they knew it would probably get past them; they were right on both accounts as Van Lierop went on to reset the school’s record for goals in a season and in a career. This season, opposing goalies look at Northwestern’s offense and see what appears to be a three-headed monster coming at them and they have no idea where the shot is going to come from, but they still know that it will probably get past them.

The trio of seniors Caelan Stangil and Logan Mesics combined with junior Cole Mertz are the team’s top three goal scorers and are the top three players in assists.

In goals, Mesics (28) leads the way with Mertz (25) and Stangil (22) next. In assists, it’s Mertz with 20 and the senior parts of the monster with 17 each. That offensive firepower is keeping Northwestern running as the season comes down the stretch.

Against Salisbury (2-7-0 Colonial, 3-9-0 overall), Mesics scored three goals in a span of 2:33 and Mertz sneaked one in among those three to give Northwestern four goals in that short span. Stangil got his first of two goals when he headed a corner from Mertz into the goal with 20:45 left in the opening half and then added another in the second half as the Tigers took a 9-1 win over the Falcons.

The header off of the corner is something that Northwestern has used over and over again this season.

One of Mesics’ goals came on the same play. He also used a sliding shot from just in front of the goalmouth for a goal and played a pass to the middle into the back of the goal for his third goal.

Mertz added a second goal in the first half with 14:18 left to play and Lyle Good capped the scoring in the first 40 minutes with a goal from 25 yards out. The Tigers led 7-0 at halftime and went on to win 9-1 against Salisbury.

In the second, the teams exchanged a pair of penalty kicks with Austin Bittenbender scoring for the Tigers and Christian Marinos converting a penalty kick with 10:55 left to play for Salisbury’s only goal.

Earlier in the week, Moravian Academy (7-2-1, 9-4-1) gave Northwestern a scare. The Lions took them to overtime before the Tigers walked off the field with a 2-1 win. That game sent a bit of a reminder to the players about what can happen in the midst of looking to repeat as state champions.

“I feel like coming into the game we kind of underestimated them a little,” said Stangil. “They lost (to Bangor) and we came in a little flat. In the second half we realized that they could actually beat us, and we kicked it up and started playing how we play.”

Mertz tied the game in the second half and Stangil got the game winner in the overtime period for Northwestern.

“It was Senior Night and there were a lot of distractions and a lot of energy and Moravian capitalized on that a little,” said coach Nate Hunsicker. “We didn’t capitalize on some chances early and if we had hit one or two of them, I think it’s a completely different game.”

The regular season comes to an end next week and the Tigers (10-0, 13-1) have four league games and one nonleague game left on their schedule. Northwestern is closing in on securing the top seed in the Colonial League playoffs and also has the edge over Pine Grove for the top seed in the District 11 2A Power Rankings.