Northwestern got its work done early Tuesday night against Jim Thorpe, giving the Tigers plenty of time to relax and cheer on the less experienced girls on the team as coach Jordan Smith emptied the bench in a 10-0 Colonial League win over the Olympians.

In just over six minutes, sophomore Sophia Schaffer got in her work by scoring two goals, the second of which was a perfectly placed shot that traveled to the far, front corner of the goal to make it a 2-0 game with 33:52 left on the clock.

Another sophomore, Dylan Ritter, fired a shot from 22 yards out and got it to the back of the net, and before the teams settled back in from that goal, Paige Bissell scored just :33 later and upped the Northwestern advantage to 4-0.

Senior Brook Balliet was not going to be shutout of the fun, and with 29:40 left in the first half, she put a shot on goal that appeared would be intercepted, but the ball bounced into the goal for the fifth score of the night for the Tigers.

Alexis Kercher and Kherington Yezik both added goals to put Northwestern up 7-0 before the first half was down to the midway point in time.

“I think our girls were ready to come out here and play tonight,” said Smith. “We had eight days off and we gave them Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off, and then had a good practice last night and they were rested and anxious to get back on the field, and we saw that tonight.”

With the starters becoming spectators, younger players like Bella Smith and Amelia Glassberg showed off their skills on the field. Smith scored on a solid shot, and the Tigers got their first goal off of a corner when Glassberg took the insertion pass and played it to the back of the net to make it 9-0, where the score stayed until halftime.

Northwestern added an early second-half goal to make it 10-0, and the two teams played out the rest of the half without either team getting any goals.

“I thought our younger girls played really well,” said Smith. “We didn’t have to change anything up, we were able to just keep our system the same and the girls took to it well and responded for us.”

Northwestern opened with tough opponents in its three first games, facing Fleetwood, Central Columbia, and Blue Mountain. Central Columbia ousted Northwestern in the state semifinals last season, and went on to win the PIAA championship. The Tigers allowed a goal in their opener against Fleetwood, but have responded with three straight shutouts since then, and outscored their opponents in the first three games by an 8-1 margin.

“I think that we learned a lot about ourselves in those games,” said Balliet. “That gave us a lot of confidence to start the season, and we’re really playing well right now, so that was a good test for us. Now, we just have to keep things going from there and keep getting better every time we go out to play.”

ENJOY THE BREAK… Northwestern’s eight day layoff was its longest of the season. The longest remaining break is six days between playing Wilson and then wrapping up the season against Catasauqua. Tuesday night kicked off a stretch of five games in eight days for the Tigers.

SOCIAL MEDIA DARLINGS… The girls’ soccer team is becoming known for its post-game and post-practice dance videos and other vignettes that they post to platforms like Facebook and Instagram. The choreography isn’t always perfect, but the videos show the atmosphere around this team.

Northwestern 10,

Jim Thorpe 0

Jim Thorpe 0 0 - 0

Northwestern 9 1 - 10

Records: Jim Thorpe (0-2, 0-3); Northwestern (1-0 Colonial, 4-0 overall)