Northwestern enjoyed a successful field hockey season by claiming the District 11 1A championship over Palmerton with a 3-2 overtime victory.

The Tigers are headed to the state playoffs and hope to continue the strength of their season, and the momentum of a run to a district title.

“We purposely scheduled some out-of- district competition between our scrimmages that we had, and some of the out-of- conference games we were able to go into District 2 to pick up Crestwood,” Northwestern Lehigh head coach Lissa Opolsky said. “We were looking forward to some of that competition in order to progress into the postseason, and although we didn’t come to fruition during the regular season and Colonial League playoffs, I think it paid off.”

The Tigers will open play in the PIAA state playoffs today against District 3 third-place team Bishop McDevitt (18-2-1) at home, with the contest scheduled to start at 5 p.m.

Northwestern finished the regular season at 13-4-1, and went into the district playoffs as the No. 1 seed. The Tigers faced Palmerton four times during the season and the teams split the series.

Northwestern went up against the Bombers in the Colonial League semifinals and suffered a 3-2 setback, but played a hard-fought district championship game to take the title.

“Playing anybody that many times in any sport, whether it’s high school, college or Colonial League, you’re bound to get familiar with an opponent and it becomes harder to win, just more to familiarize the players themselves and the strategies,” Opolsky said.

“They did a really good job adjusting to our strategy after the first time we played them. We tried a few different strategies the third and fourth time we played them and we felt honestly better about some things from the third time.”

Northwestern has had contributions from throughout its lineup, and the Tigers have had players step up when it mattered most, especially in the district title game.

Olivia Costa scored two goals for Northwestern, including the game-winner, and Carsyn Van Norman continued to show the progress she made throughout the season, coming up with an assist in the title game.

“Everybody’s been stepping up in different ways,” Opolsky said. “We have a solid group of returning people coming back. I wouldn’t say we necessarily have a star because we’re really balanced and if someone’s taken away, we’re able to use other people on the field. They’ve all been pretty much doing their job to the best of their ability, and it’s led to growing over the course of the season, which is very important.”

Opolsky sees the Tigers as an underdog heading into the state playoffs, but her team seems to be peaking at the perfect time.

Northwestern lost four games during the regular season, and this resilient bunch of Tigers can continue the success they’ve had going into states.

“Going into the state playoffs, we go in as an underdog. District 11 in 1A hasn’t been known to make much noise in the past few years, so we will be taking a look at our opponent once we know that, and then devising a plan from there,” Opolsky said. “We’re trying to execute that to the best of our ability; knowing that District 3 is a really strong district in 1A poses a challenge, but we were there last year, and in 2020 and 2019. Some of these girls know what they’re getting into.

“It’s just going to come down to whether or not we have the talent and have the will to stick with them, so we’ll see what it looks like once we get out there.”