Teams at Northwestern Lehigh are thought to reload and not rebuild.

To do that, programs need a constant stream of young players with the talent to contribute at the varsity level.

The Tiger girls soccer roster has 10 freshmen on it this season. Not all are seeing substantial playing time, but they are all getting minutes here and there with a few in the starting lineup.

Six of the young players have scored goals this season and as a whole, the class has 18 goals for the team. The class also has the team’s starting goalie, Brystol Hamm, who has allowed just 10 goals in 14 games.

The team is helped by the fact that it is able to hold large leads in a good number of its games, which gives coach Jordan Smith the opportunity to get playing time for young players and some rest for the upperclassmen.

This past week, Northwestern defeated Moravian Academy 6-2 and then had a pair of games where young players were on the pitch for much of the game as the Lady Tigers defeated Saucon Valley 9-1 and then downed Salisbury 9-0.

Freshman Ellie Fluke had a pair of goals this week and against Salisbury, three freshmen picked up goals with Kaylynn Knauss, Sophia Varvarelis, and Fluke all netting goals. The young players have players like leading senior Sophia Schaffer (30 goals) and junior Juliet Snyder (15 goals) to help their learning curve on the offensive end, which has helped the development of young players.

“They’ve (the upperclassmen) made us feel comfortable and helped us to learn a lot about the game and what teams are trying to do against us,” said Knauss. “Without them, I think it would be a lot tougher, but they’re always there for us.”

Fluke leads the freshman class with nine goals and Knauss now has five on the season.

Hamm, as many Northwestern Lehigh goalies have had happen, finds herself getting a little lonely at times as the defense in front of her controls most of the attacks before they even get into the box.

“It’s been really good. The girls have been talking me through everything,” said Hamm of the adjustment to varsity soccer. “The communication back there is great and we have a real connection. Sometimes I wish I was challenged a little more to give me the experience, but in practice we spend a lot of time shooting, so that’s where I really get to improve.”

Smith knows that the strength of the program comes from young players getting acclimated as quickly as they can.

He echoed the thoughts that Knauss has about the help that the older players give to the younger players. He believes that it helps not just with technical skills, but in dealing with the pressures that varsity players face.

“Being under the big lights and having the pressure of being in a winning program can be tough,” he said. “I think they’ve done a nice job helping the young players settle in and the younger players are taking it all in and learning from the girls who have been here and have been through all of this before.”

With a 13-1-0 record overall and an 11-0-0 Colonial League record, Northwestern is in a good spot for the postseason. The Tigers have already wrapped up playoff spots for both the league and district postseason tournaments and are just looking forward to locking down the top seed.

In the Colonial League, the only team that can catch the Tigers is Notre Dame of Green Pond (10-2-0, 10-1-0) but catching Northwestern wouldn’t be enough since Northwestern has the tiebreaker against the Crusaders after beating them a month ago.

Allentown Central Catholic (11-3-0) and Notre Dame are chasing Northwestern in the district standings.

The last three home games of the season are on the schedule for this week. It starts with Wilson (7-4-3, 6-2-3) and then has Northern Lehigh (5-7-1, 3-7-1) for league games. On Saturday, what could be a preview of a state tournament game takes place as Central Columbia comes to Tiger Stadium. The season wraps up next week with a game at Catasauqua.