If Thursday night’s conditions at the District 11 Class 2A girls soccer championship game got to be too much and you left after a slow first half, you missed some excitement.

One goal might not be enough to be considered a rally, but Brook Balliet will take it, as she scored the lone goal for Northwestern. Balliet’s goal was all the scoring as the Tigers beat Allentown Central Catholic 1-0 for their fifth straight District 11 championship.

The game went to halftime as a scoreless tie, but both Northwestern (21-1-0) and Central Catholic (19-3-1) picked up the pace in the second half.

The teams played a spirited contest over the final half in contrast to a slow and deliberate pace over the first half of the game.

Even though the first half was scoreless, Northwestern coach Jordan Smith had his girls come out with the same strategy that they had coming into the game.

“Not a thing,” was Smith’s response to what he changed at halftime. “We were playing well on both ends of the field, and it was going well for us, so we decided just to leave things the way they were and look for an opportunity.”

The patient group of Tigers had to wait until the game clock had ticked down to 34:19 to get their first goal. That was when Paige Bissell sent a pass down the left side of the field to Balliet, who was about 20 yards away from the goal. As the play developed, Balliet changed her strategy and it worked perfectly.

“Honestly, when I got the ball from Paige, I was going to take it to the end line, but I saw the gap was open for me to be able to put a shot on the outside corner,” said Balliet. “It wasn’t my plan until I saw that open gap and took advantage of that.”

The scoring looked like it might be contagious, but Vikettes goalie Lindsey Yen made a terrific leaping save to keep it a one goal game. Yen - who came into play the second half as part of Central Catholic’s goalie rotation - was strong in goal other than letting Balliet’s shot get into the far corner of the goal.

At the other end of the field, sophomore Olivia Reinhart was matching Yen save for save, fully extending to get a glove on one shot. Another Vikettes scoring chance went by the wayside on a corner kick opportunity. The initial kick came to freshman Charlotte Patterson, who put a shot on goal, but got it high and it clinked off the bottom portion of the crossbar and shot downward, and thankfully for Northwestern, away from the goal where it was cleared by a Tigers defender.

“That was crazy,” said Reinhart. “We pulled together and got it out. We had a great defensive game, we cleared a lot, and got a lot of defensive stops.”

“Our defense was phenomenal and Liv (Reinhart) played another great game. You can see the confidence in her building, and she moves well for balls and talks and communicates with the defense and that’s all huge. Then having Abby [Pomajevich] out there as a four-year starter and Syenna [Flores] and Liv, they’re all great,” added Smith.

The win gives the Tigers five straight district championships, and their second set of gold medals in the postseason after they won the Colonial League championship two weeks ago. Only one team from District 11 advances to states, which brings Central Catholic’s season to an end.

BIG-GAME BALLIET

… Balliet loves the big stage and bright lights. “Brooke always steps up in big games. Two years ago, she scored the only goal in a 1-0 game, last year she got two and we won 3-2 , and tonight she got the goal,” said Smith.

BRING ‘EM ON

… Northwestern begins play in the PIAA tournament against the District 2 champion Holy Redeemer. The game is scheduled for Tuesday at Holy Redeemer in Wilkes-Barre.