Palmerton’s Celeste Hoffman knew her team needed an early lead for momentum against Northwestern on Wednesday night and decided to take a direct approach to getting that lead.

The Blue Bomber senior forward had let loose on a couple earlier shots, only to see them stopped by Northwestern goalkeeper Emma Yanders. With 3:21 left in the first quarter, Hoffman fired the most ferocious of her attempts and the ball sailed past Yanders.

The goal put Palmerton on top, and served as the spark it needed to go on and post a 2-0 Colonial League victory.

“We were passing well as a team and communicating well,” said Hoffman. “Sydney (Frantz) passed the ball to me, and I turned around and shot it hard and it hit the right corner.”

Palmerton had a total of 14 penalty corners - 12 of them coming in the first half. It would convert on just one of those corners, but it wasn’t frustrated at the lack of success, but instead was happy with drawing the penalties.

“When we start getting corners, it gets to the other team, and they start messing up,” said Hoffman. “I feel like when we do get corners, it helps our team get better shots. We love getting corners.”

Just before the horn blew to end the second quarter, the Blue Bombers picked up their 11th penalty corner of the night. They were unable to convert, but on the play, another penalty was called to give them another opportunity.

This time, Frantz launched a shot from 15 yards out just to the right side of the goal that found the back of the net, giving Palmerton a 2-0 edge.

“They love drama. That sounds like it could be a bad thing, but in this case, they like causing drama in the offensive circle,” said Palmerton coach Meg Leadbetter of her players. “We believe if you’re causing another foul, that’s huge. You don’t have to be the biggest goal scorer, but you can do a lot of damage just by getting in that circle and looking for a foul.”

Northwestern went 0-for-6 on penalty corners and was unable to put a lot of pressure on Palmerton goalkeeper Sarah Sabo, who finished with four saves. Yanders stopped five shots for Northwestern.

“We didn’t show up,” said Northwestern coach Lissa Opolsky. “I would rather that happen now than later, and I think they learned a lot about themselves, a lot about what they have to fight through, and a lot about adjusting earlier and playing with some emotion.

“We are a little bit young, and still learning in that regard, but I think if we use it in the right way, we can turn it into a positive heading forward.”

Palmerton appeared to have another goal early in the third quarter, but it was waived off by the officials.

“We really wanted to get this win,” said Hoffman. “They beat us earlier, and we had to get this one on their field. This is a big win for us.”

PLAYOFFS … Either Palmerton or Northwestern will be the Colonial League West Division champion, but there could be some cyphering to be done since they are both 4-1 in the division, and have taken turns beating each other this season. Right now, Northwestern (8-2 in league play) would get the nod based on having a better league record than Palmerton (7-3). The league records of their remaining opponents are similar, with Northwestern’s games against teams with a combined 10-28-1 record, and the Bombers playing teams with a combined mark of 13-28-1. If they are tied in league records, the next tiebreaker is won-lost record against all other teams qualified for the Colonial League Tournament.