If you come to a soccer game between Northwestern and Southern Lehigh looking for a high-scoring game, you’re likely going to be disappointed.

If you’re a fan of one-sided games, you’re also likely going to be disappointed.

But if you love good, hard fought soccer, a game between the Tigers and Spartans is just the thing you’re looking for.

The two teams have had some epic battles over the past few seasons and Saturday was no exception.

Through 80 minutes of soccer, the two teams were knotted 1-1 and even two overtime periods couldn’t decide the victor. At that point, the rules say it’s time for a round of five penalty kicks for each team to hopefully decide a victor. It came down to the final kick, but Southern Lehigh won the PK phase 4-3, giving them a 2-1 win and the Colonial League championship.

The win gave Southern Lehigh their first league title since 2012 and sends them into next week’s district playoffs on the highest of notes. For Northwestern, the loss moved them down to the fourth seed in the tournament, which gets underway on Thursday.

“They’ve beat us twice now by one,” said Tigers’ head coach Nate Hunsicker. “We’re looking to get a little redemption.”

Southern Lehigh struck first when Gavin Bealer launched a shot from 45 feet and got it past goalie Austin Vogwill for a 1-0 lead that carried into halftime.

Northwestern had a tying goal negated with 29 minutes left when Seth Brady took a pass through the middle, made a couple of smooth moves and beat goalkeeper Ayden Sharper. Unfortunately for Northwestern, an offside call canceled the goal. Just a couple minutes later, Brady seemed to put every muscle he had into a kick, but Sharper stopped the laser and covered it up to be sure it wasn’t going anywhere.

Rather than get frustrated, the Tigers shook off both incidents and went right back to work. Another whistle blew, but this time it was against Southern Lehigh and gave the Tigers just the break they needed when they were awarded a penalty kick.

Senior Jeff Garcia made the kick as he went left and Sharper dove right and Northwestern tied the game 1-1. As time ran out in regulation, Garcia would launch a shot from 30 yards out only to see it be stopped by Sharper.

Northwestern went into pure domination mode in overtime and easily owned both periods. While the Tigers seemed to turn OT into a shooting gallery, some shots went wide or over the crossbar and those that didn’t were stopped by Sharper.

Anytime the Spartans would seem to be in position for a shot, Northwestern would find a way to send the play down to the other end of the field as they breezed through the Southern Lehigh defense. When all was said and done through both overtime periods, Sharper had made 12 saves in the game and the two teams were still tied 1-1.

Garcia, who is known as one of the best penalty kickers in the area, lined up to shoot first and put his shot over the crossbar. Southern Lehigh gained the advantage when Bealer sent his shot past Vogwill to give the Spartans a 1-0 edge. Colin Coffield hit his shot as did Southern Lehigh’s Tyler King. The third round would find the Tigers evening up the penalty kick phase when Josh Zellner made Sharper dive but the ball went off his hands and into the net. Landon Bealer put a shot wide of the goal and the two teams were at 2-2 through three rounds. Lucas van Lierop went high and saw his shot sail over the crossbar for Northwestern and Michael Cocozza regained the edge for the Spartans when he reached the back of the net.

“When you get to that PK situation, you know when you miss that first one that you are really behind the eight-ball,” said Hunsicker. “Jeff [Garcia] misses that shot next to never so that was just out of character for him.”

With the game coming down to the final round, Brady had to make his shot to keep Northwestern’s hopes alive and he nailed it. From there, Luca Prando was last man up for Southern Lehigh and he didn’t miss, setting off the celebration for the Spartans.

“We fought really hard and had the better of the play in the second half, we just didn’t finish our chances,” said Hunsicker. “We thoroughly outplayed them even in the two overtime periods, but then when you go into the PK situation, it’s a crap-shoot.”

SEE YOU SOON? ... The odds are good that the two teams will meet again in the District 11 tournament, but it won’t be in the finals. Fourth-seeded Northwestern plays No. 5 Bangor in the quarterfinals Thursday and a win would put them into the semis against Southern Lehigh, who has a first-round bye as the tournament’s top seed.

CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY … If one meeting of teams from Southern Lehigh and Northwestern Lehigh weren’t enough, there were actually three meetings. The two teams met in field hockey and both boys and girls soccer for Colonial League championships. The Tigers won their games in field hockey and girls soccer to claim gold medals, but the sweep just wasn’t to be as the day’s finale went to Southern Lehigh.