Lehighton came in determined to shut down the offense of the Northwestern boys soccer team Tuesday night at Tiger Stadium.

But once the Tigers cracked the code, they started to find paths toward the goal in a first-half scoring spree that saw Northwestern take a 9-0 lead and coast to its 10th win of the season, a 9-1 victory over the Indians.

Jacob van Lierop continued his mastery over opposing defenses with three goals in the first 26 minutes, and added a fourth tally late in the first half. The opening goal came to the right side of the net, and van Lierop headed the ball on goal just off the hands of the Lehighton keeper.

On the next two goals, van Lierop was shooting from a further distance, but had no trouble finding the net. Off an assist from Jack Mauro, van Lierop put a shot in from the right side. His next goal was from 15 yards out, and directly in front of the net after a pass from Caelan Stangil to make it 3-0 with 14:31 left in the first half.

The next seven minutes belonged to sophomore Cole Mertz, who got his first goal on a shot from van Lierop that appeared headed into the goalie’s hands. Mertz stepped in front and redirected the shot into the net for a 4-0 lead. The sophomore then put on some impressive dance moves around the net to fake out a defender and the goalie for his second goal of the night with 10:50 left to play.

Before another minute could run off the clock, Mertz added his third goal off of an assist from Stangil, and his fourth came on a header with 6:12 left in the first half to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead in the game.

“I got the ball wide and took a kid one-on-one and beat him, and then the goalie kind of let me get around him and I just finished the play,” said Mertz of his second goal.

Van Lierop added his fourth goal of the game when he lined a shot to the goalie’s left off of another assist from Stangil, his third of the game. Stangil, a junior, went from assist maker to goal scorer with :23 left in the first half when he took a feed from Jack Mauro for a 9-0 lead going into halftime.

Van Lierop has a team-high 33 goals this season, and Mertz upped his total to 13, putting him second on the team in that category. Van Lierop’s four-goal night puts his season goal total past the 31 total varsity goals he had coming into the season.

“I’m playing up top now, so that makes a difference in being able to get goals,” explained Van Lierop, a senior. “We have a great team, and they get me the ball and give me the chance to finish some of the chances. Right now, everything is going well, and everything is rolling, everything is going smoothly.”

Lehighton junior Konner Nalesnik used his speed to get a clear look at the goal to put the Indians on the board in the second half.

DOMINANT RUN ... Northwestern now has scored 70 goals in 10 games, with 32 of those goals coming in its last four games. The defense has allowed just eight goals on the season, with Brandon Krapf holding a goals-against-average (GAA) of just 0.732 this season.

SAVE THE DATE ... Northwestern has already clinched a spot in the District 11 playoffs, and is currently the top-ranked team in Class 2A boys’ soccer, and one of just three undefeated teams in all of District 11. The Tigers are close to clinching a spot in the Colonial League playoffs.

Lehighton 0 1 - 1

Northwestern 9 0 - 9

Goals: Lehighton - Konner Nalesnik 1; Northwestern - Cole Mertz 4, Jake van Lierop 4, Caelan Stangil 1; Assists: Northwestern - Caelan Stangil 3, Jack Mauro 2, Jake van Lierop 1, Cayden Lloyd 1, Ben Bachman 1.

Records: Northwestern (8-0-0 Colonial, 10-0-0 overall); Lehighton (3-4-0, 4-4-0)