Cammy Fitch almost got a break during Wednesday night’s game against Blue Mountain, but instead, she was pressed back into action and scored the first goal of the night for Northwestern in its 3-0 win in the quarterfinals of the District 11 Class 2A soccer tournament.

For the first 40 minutes of the contest, the teams played tentatively and had some unforced errors that kept the game scoreless. Much of the play took place in the middle portion of the field, with only occasional pressure on either goalkeeper.

“We had a good second half,” said Northwestern coach Jordan Smith. “That’s the kind of soccer that we need to play at this point in the season. We were a little slow in the first half, and have to play better than that.”

After nearly scoring on a header 10 minutes into the second half, Fitch had exited for a quick breather, but when a teammate went down and had to come out, the junior midfielder was right back in the game. As it turned out, Syenna Flores put a free kick on goal that bounced back-and-forth before Fitch was able to get a foot on the ball and sneak it past goalkeeper Cala Armenise to give the Tigers a 1-0 edge.

“The ball was knocking around and I think I got the first header, but a bunch of people touched it, and I just poked it in,” said Fitch of the goal, which was her 22nd of the season. “It definitely sparked us because we struggled in the first half, but we really brought it the second half.”

Fitch wasn’t done with her scoring exploits, as she later was the one taking a free kick from 35 yards out and put a shot on goal that Armenise failed to get in front of and attempted to play off to her side. The ball had too much velocity on it for her to stop, and wound up going off her hand to the back of the net for the game’s second goal. Armenise left the field after the play, apparently having jammed a finger on the attempt to block the shot. She returned a few minutes later and was able to finish the game.

Makayla Keck came on to replace Armenise, and was able to tip a shot over the crossbar to keep the score at 2-0. As the game wound down, Shelby Shupp, a sophomore, was in the right place at the right time. Armenise returned and came out to play a ball off a corner kick, but the ball bounced to Shupp, who fired at an empty net and filled it with her shot to give Northwestern a 3-0 lead.

ONWARD ...Northwestern (15-5-1) will now move to the semifinal round where it will face Jim Thorpe. The Olympians, champions of the Schuylkill League, are the top seed in 2A, while the Tigers are the fourth seed. Blue Mountain ends its season with a 13-5-1 record.