Northwestern girls soccer coach Kelly Bleam had to think twice before deciding on her Most Memorable Game.

The longtime mentor whittled her decision down to two options - both of them golden ones.

Her choices came down to a title game nearly two decades ago that helped serve as a building block for the program, or a championship contest that happened more recently and helped solidify its place among the Lehigh Valley’s elite soccer programs.

In the end, though, Bleam sided with the former - the District 11 Class 3A finals - that occurred on May 25, 2001.

The Tigers head coach was in her third season at the helm. Her team shut out both Pottsville and Stroudsburg to reach the title matchup.

The finals were on a Friday evening at Salisbury, and her young squad would be facing a heavily-favored Emmaus program.

Bleam knew her team would be a decided underdog.

“Nobody thought we would win that game,” said Bleam, whose team only had one senior, Kara White. “Emmaus was the shoe-in for the title. Just to see them (her players) throughout the game find that confidence in themselves was amazing. It was like all of a sudden, they were like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re not getting killed. We’re actually in this game.’”

With that newfound confidence, the Tigers proved everybody wrong.

Alison Hayden tallied Northwestern’s first goal with 22:14 left in the first half, scoring off a pass from Becky Horn. Shortly afterward, Emmaus knotted the game on Jocelyn Helwig’s goal with 14:32 left to play in the opening half.

Following those goals, the two teams battled scoreless through the rest of the first half, the second half, two 10-minute overtime periods, and two five-minute overtime periods.

With the score still 1-1, the contest went to a series of five penalty kicks. Both teams registered three goals - with Northwestern tallies coming from Caitlyn Miller, White and Hayden - through their first four shooters.

In the fifth round, Tigers goalie Liz Casale made a diving stop on Helwig to keep the game knotted.

Bleam vividly remembers what happened next.

“It was pretty incredible,” said Bleam. “It was our fifth kicker that won it for us. And I still remember who that was; I still communicate with her on Facebook, as well. Her name is Annie Ruckdeschel.”

Ruckdeschel beat the Hornets’ keeper, Julia Jurkiewicz, to clinch the title.

“When we came home on the school bus ... the athletic director at the time Mr. (Jason) Zimmerman, he got the firetrucks to drive us around the neighborhood,” Bleam said. “They escorted our buses around the New Tripoli area. The horns blaring. People came out and were applauding. It was a unique thing.”

Since then, winning titles hasn’t been unique for Northwestern soccer teams.

That’s why after a dry spell - at least for the Tigers - this past season’s Colonial League championship was also special for Bleam.

“It had been four years since we last won a Colonial League title,” said Bleam, whose team defeated defending champion Southern Lehigh 1-0 to regain the crown. “It was just something that kept escaping us after we had won it so many times in the previous years.”

The 2019 league championship was the 13th under Bleam.

It also finished just above another CL moment that the Tiger mentor considered as her most memorable - winning the league title against Palisades in 2008, eventually ranking it third on her list.

But it doesn’t quite compare to the night at Salisbury nearly 19 years ago.

“I’m telling you, nobody thought we were going to win the game,” Bleam said. “But in the end, they did win. I just hope that every single one of them that were at the field that night, if they read this article, they go, ‘Oh my gosh, I remember that.’ And, I hope that it makes them all smile, too.”