ALLENTOWN - Northwestern’s girls soccer team is as cohesive as it is talented.

And the Tigers are as unified and dominant as ever.

Northwestern punched its ticket to the Colonial League championship with a 3-0 win over Southern Lehigh on Thursday night at Salisbury High School.

With the win, the third-seeded Tigers (14-4-1, 10-1-1) will now go after their fourth-straight league title on Saturday.

“I think so,” senior Naomi Glassberg said when asked if the team was playing some of its best soccer of the season. “We’ve started to connect a lot more, and rather than just kicking it, I think we’ve connected our passes more, been able to create more opportunities.

“In the beginning of the season, it was kind of hard for us to put the ball in the back of the net. But with 5-0 (over Northern Lehigh in the quarterfinals) and now 3-0, I think we’re finally starting to mesh.”

A standout goalkeeper, Glassberg is one of seven seniors on the roster trying to go four-for-four in the league championship game.

“I think that’s what all of us are hoping for, all the seniors,” she said. “We want to get our last one, and just keep the streak going. We’ve played together since we were nine or 10 (years old), so we all know each other really well.”

Paige Bissell has been setting the tone for Northwestern during the Colonial League playoffs.

The sophomore didn’t wait long to give the Tigers a boost on Thursday.

After opening the scoring in a rout against Northern Lehigh during Monday’s quarterfinal win, Bissell scored twice against the second-seeded Spartans (12-4-2, 10-1-1).

Bissell found the back of the net a little over 10 minutes into Thursday’s game, taking a pass from fellow sophomore Brook Balliet to make it 1-0 with 29:49 to play in the first half.

“The first one, we had a counter attack, and Brook (Balliet) took it down the right side and cut across the middle,” said Bissell. “I came up, and she passed it to me and I was open, so I just struck it and it went in.

“It kind of got the pressure off of us, and gave us some confidence to keep attacking. It really keeps us going, and gets us motivated; we want to score more, we want to do better.”

Northwestern made it 2-0 with 4:49 to play before halftime when freshman Juliet Benvin helped to push a ball into the Southern Lehigh net.

“I told the girls at halftime of the Northern Lehigh game, that in the playoffs, you have to score goals in different ways,” said Tigers head coach Jordan Smith. “Free kicks, corner kicks, a scrappy goal in front of the net, and that’s exactly what Juliet did. She went down, she got a toe on it, and it ended up being an own goal, but it goes to her because of that scrappiness she had right in the box, and that’s what you need.

“And when you’re facing a quality opponent like Southern Lehigh, you need more than one goal. They have a great team.”

The two-goal lead seemed insurmountable as Northwestern’s defense dominated the second half, allowing just three shots from distance, all of which were off target, while the offense continued to generate pressure.

“I talked to them at halftime, and I wasn’t too pleased with how we were stepping, and we were giving them a little too much room,” Smith said of the defense. “But I told them, that second half was just phenomenal. They’ve been doing it all year. It’s a fairly new unit - three new defenders - and we worked with them, and Naomi (Glassberg) worked with them, and they’ve just been doing a great job.”

Daniella Oviedo nearly put the Spartans up 1-0 with a turnaround shot in front of the net a little over three minutes into the game, but the ball sailed over the goal.

Southern Lehigh’s pressure almost produced a score after a free kick with 11:55 to play in the first half, but Elizabeth Yazdanyar’s shot was saved by Glassberg to keep it a 1-0 game.

Bissell almost got her second goal of the game in the first half on a ball played into the box by junior Katie Brensinger, but Southern Lehigh goalie Ava Foran came up with the save.

Unsure if she had scored twice in a game this season, Bissell accomplished the feat in the second half, scoring on a pass from senior Samantha Bardonner to make it 3-0 with 11:00 to play.

“It’s really exciting, and it makes me really hopeful for what’s to come in the playoffs,” Bissell said.

So are the rest of the Tigers.

FAMILIAR FOE ... Northwestern and Southern Lehigh had met in each of the previous three Colonial League championship games. The two teams played to a scoreless tie on Sept. 17 earlier this season.

UP NEXT ... The Tigers will face top-seeded Palmerton on Saturday at Catasauqua’s Alumni Field at 3 p.m. for the title.