CATASAUQUA - Two teams with strong defenses met in Saturday’s Colonial League girls soccer championship game at Alumni Field in Catasauqua.

In a combined total of 38 games, Palmerton and Northwestern Lehigh had allowed just 26 goals between them all season.

Ironically, if a game where goals were expected to be at a premium, it was an early goal by the Bombers that proved to the key.

Palmerton was then able to build on that goal and went on to post a 3-1 victory for its first ever Colonial League girls soccer championship.

Palmerton came in as the top seed and breezed past Saucon Valley in the semis. Meanwhile, Northwestern - the No. 3 seed - knocked out Northern Lehigh and Southern Lehigh, outscoring the two teams by a combined margin of 8-0, in its quarterfinal and semifinal wins.

Looking to come out and make an immediate statement, Palmerton put pressure on goalkeeper Naomi Glassberg and just under three minutes into the game, Ella Baumgardt put a shot on goal off a free kick from Sam Perloni, leaving Glassberg with little time to react. The ball short hopped Glassberg and snuck past her for the game’s first goal.

“That was important because it just got us going and started things for us,” said Baumgardt about her goal.

Much of the remaining first half was dominated by the Tigers, who saw one shot go just wide of the post and another bounce off the crossbar on a corner kick. The Tigers appeared to get the tying goal a little later when Katie Brensinger beat goalie Emma Snyder, but the goal was nullified by an offside call.

Palmerton (18-2-0) battled to regain control and with 13:24 left in the first half, Nataly Walters broke free and headed toward the goal, firing a shot from 30 yards out that sailed to Glassberg’s left and into the goal for a 2-0 lead.

With a minute left to play in the half, Glassberg was involved in a collision in front of the net and went down hard. The referees stopped play and coach Jordan Smith along with trainer Kennedy Roberts started on to the field, but Glassberg waved them off. Because time had been called and the trainer did come onto the field, Glassberg had to exit. While Glassberg ran directly to midfield to substitute back in at the next stoppage of play, freshman goalkeeper Olivia Reinhart ran onto the field without any time to warm up and with the Blue Bombers having the ball inside the penalty area. Sam Perloni took the free kick that lofted toward Reinhard, who got her hands on the ball but was unable to control it as it wound up going in for a commanding 3-0 lead going into halftime.

“She (Perloni) has been money from there all year,” said Palmerton coach Dave O’Brien. “We know that if we get a free kick in the middle of the field, it’s going in the box, and we are going to have an opportunity to score. It was fortunate for us that we were able to take advantage of those few seconds that Naomi was out of the game.”

Northwestern (14-5-1) controlled play to start the second half, but Palmerton focused on defense and was able to stave off an early shot by Brensinger that Snyder blocked.

The Tigers were awarded a free kick, which Syenna Flores sailed toward the goal where Paige Bissell headed the ball past Snyder to make it a 3-1 game with 28:51 to play.

But from that point on, the Bombers were especially tough on defense and limited the scoring opportunities for Northwestern.

“We know that our classification (2A) is stacked, and we might have to play Northwestern again and there’s Central Catholic, Jim Thorpe and some other good teams,” said O’Brien. “We couldn’t be riding higher right now, and we are excited for what’s to come.”

Meanwhile, the Tigers will try to regroup and prepare for the strong 2A field that O’Brien mentioned.

“We just have to turn our attention to districts now and regroup and move on,” said Smith. “We have more soccer to play.”

BAD DAY IN CATTY ... Northwestern had its field hockey, boys soccer, and girls soccer teams all playing in the Colonial League finals in Catasauqua Saturday and came away with silver medals in each of the games. The three Northwestern teams had a combined record of 48-8-2 coming into the finals.

SEE YOU SOON? ... Both teams go into districts with Northwestern hosting Blue Mountain and Palmerton hosting Bethlehem Catholic in Thursday’s quarterfinals. The two teams are in opposite halves of the bracket so for them to meet again, they would both need to reach the district championship game.