Snooze and you lose.

That was the story Saturday when the Northwestern girls soccer team scored just 49 seconds into the Colonial League finals matchup against Palisades.

The defending state champs tacked on four more goals to beat the Pirates 5-0 and earn their sixth league title in the past seven seasons.

Sophia Schaffer took a shot that sailed past goalie Sadie Chilton for the 1-0 lead with 39:11 left to play in the first quarter.

“We always want to get that early goal,” said Schaffer. “It’s great to get up early and we came out looking to get one early and set the pace.”

It took Northwestern over 37 minutes to get its next goal.

Chilton showed her athletic skills with several diving stops to turn away would be goals.

With 2:02 left in the first half, Northwestern got a second goal with this one coming off a corner play. Schaffer played the ball in to the front of the goal and Kiersten Klein was in good position to score and put Northwestern up 2-0 going into halftime.

In the second half, Chilton continued to turn away Northwestern and finished the day with 13 saves.

The Tigers kept pressure on Clinton.

Kherington Yezik scored her first goal of the game with 22:29 left in the second half and added another later in the half. Between those two goals, Schaffer found a break down the left side of the field and put a shot back to her right to beat Chilton.

While Chilton was putting on a clinic at one end of the field, the Tigers’ Olivia Reinhart was putting on a master class at the other end.

Dakota Wizeman had a break away opportunity just past the midway point of the first half and Reinhart faced her one-on-one and won the battle by making a sliding stop.

Freshman defender Ava Snyder also made a big defensive stop when she got in the way of Mia Battoni on another breakaway down the right side.

“Our defense was really good today,” said defender Sophia Sikora. “We played as a unit, and we all contributed and did our job. Olivia was amazing in goal. She is so strong back there and she makes our job easier because we don’t have to worry about someone getting through because we know she’s going to stop them.”

“Our girls came in ready to play,” said Tiger head coach Jordan Smith. “They know that we’re at the point in the season where you can’t take anything for granted. We are undefeated, but we can lose that and the chance at a medal with just one bad game. In districts, it gets even tougher, so we have to keep playing as well as we have been.”

The win officially made the Lady Tigers the top seed in the District 11 2A tournament.

Tigers roll past Panthers 8-1 in semifinals

After winning their first playoff game of 2025 by a seven-goal margin, the Tigers equaled that spread in last week’s 8-1 win over Saucon Valley in the Colonial League semifinals.

Northwestern (20-0) came out firing and got on the scoreboard early against the Panthers.

Schaffer and Yezik notched hat tricks for the Tigers.

Yezik scored the first two goals of the game in the first 12 minutes. She capped the scoring with her third goal, the 50th of her career.

“I didn’t even realize that points were counted until last year when Brook Balliet got to 50,” said Yezik, a senior who is committed to play at Texas Christian University. “This year, Soph (Schaffer) got to 50 and I hadn’t kept track of my stats until coach Smith pulled me over and told me I was close to 100 points and 50 goals, so I’ve been working hard to get there.”

Schaffer picked up her three goals with one just past the midway point of the first half and the next two coming just about seven minutes apart in the second half. The final goal of the night for Schaffer came just :27 after Juliet Snyder scored her second goal of the game with 21:50 left to play.

“As a team,” said Schaffer, “we are really focusing on being the best that we can be and to focus on the little things. I think that by doing that, it’s helping us to win these games by pretty big margins. We stay focused in practice, and we always want to get better.”

Ava Snyder and Amelia Glassberg picked up assists in the game for Northwestern. Glassberg has 20 assists on the season.

The lone goal for Saucon Valley came when senior Tesia Mikuta, who will be going to the University of Tennessee next season, scored with 17:42 left in the first half. The Lady Panthers put a limited amount of pressure on Northwestern goalie Olivia Reinhart, who made six saves in the game.

Northwestern’s team is deeper and appears to have even more confidence than last year’s team that swept the league, district and PIAA championships.

“I always tell them that nothing is given to us,” said Smith. “Everything has to be earned. Some days in practice when we’re not playing the way we need to, I preach that we need to practice how we play because the mistakes you make in practice here, you’ll make in the game.”

Schaffer, a junior, remembers going through the state championship season last year and believes that for her this season has a different feeling.

“This year is definitely different than last year,” she said. “I think still being an underclassman last year was a little bit different; I was a little more timid to take a leadership role. This year, I think my class as a whole knows better what to expect and just is really trying to help the underclassmen adjust and get involved.”