Northwestern Lehigh opened the season with 10 goals in its first three games - which for most teams would be a strong offensive start.

For the Tigers though, it was almost unacceptable. Since then, the defending state champions have averaged nearly 10 goals per game over their last five.

The most recent win came Tuesday night at Tiger Stadium with an 8-0 victory over Salisbury.

The scoring started early as unbeaten Northwestern got a goal from senior Matt Johnson after a battle in front of the goal.

With 27:00 left in the first half, a crossing pass from Jack Mauro was a little ahead of Johnson as he came down the middle, but was in a perfect spot for Isaac Frey to sneak a shot into the back corner of the net for an early 2-0 lead.

“Everyone on this team is very skilled, and I’m happy to have this team behind me,” said Johnson, who finished the night with four goals.

Before the midway point of the first half, Northwestern would add two more goals, with Johnson taking a feed from Mauro that made it almost too easy for Johnson to score from about eight feet out. The Tigers got a penalty kick when the Falcons were called for a foul in the box and Jacob Van Lierop took the opportunity and deposited his shot in the upper right corner of the goal well out of the reach of goalie Blaine Berger.

Johnson - who leads the team with 16 goals, - spent the past couple seasons playing up front with Josh Zellner, and the duo helped the team score the most goals in the program’s history last season.

Zellner graduated, but Johnson handed out some pretty high praise for Van Lierop, who has taken over as his scoring buddy.

“Having Jacob up top with me is like a deadly duo, like me and Josh last season,” said Johnson. “He’s a good replacement, and I’m proud of him and all of the boys on this team.”

On a corner kick attempt with 5:19 left before the break, Mauro put a ball in front of the net for Johnson, but the kick wound up a little short. Berger went up to make a play on the ball, but had it glance off his fingers and Johnson reacted fast enough to head the ball into the goal.

Just two minutes later, the Tigers capped their first-half scoring when Van Lierop made Berger make a dive to his left and the ball again went off his fingers and into the goal for a 7-0 lead.

Johnson would pick up his fourth goal of the night in the second half off an assist from Cole Mertz.

While the Tigers returned most of their firepower from last season and have an experienced team, younger players have stepped up to contribute as they learn from the players ahead of them.

Their contributions haven’t gone unnoticed.

“Cole Mertz is a freshman and he’s a great player, and we have a lot of great sophomores and juniors,” said Johnson of his teammates. “Everyone is very talented from having played with different club teams. It’s amazing to have that when you’re a senior. These kids are really talented.”

START THE COUNTDOWN CLOCK … With his four goals against Salisbury, Johnson pulled within two of breaking the school’s all-time career record of 80 held by Troy Everett. With 10 regular season games and likely a deep run into the postseason, Johnson is virtually a lock to get the record, and has a shot at reaching the 100-goal plateau for his career.

STILL PERFECT ... The Tigers improved to 8-0-0 overall, and 5-0-0 in the Colonial League. Salisbury dropped to 3-3-0 in the Colonial League and 3-4-0 overall.

THEN THERE WERE TWO … Coming into Tuesday’s games, Northwestern, Moravian Academy, and Wilson were the only undefeated teams remaining in the Colonial League. The Lions and Warriors were on Tuesday’s schedule ,and Moravian Academy made a strong statement with a 6-1 win at Wilson. The Tigers play at Moravian Academy (5-0-0) on Thursday.