A strong defense, along with an offense that took advantage of its opponents’ second-half miscues, led Northwestern to a 4-0 win in the opening round of the PIAA tournament against Hughesville Tuesday night at Tiger Stadium.

Early on, Northwestern missed several opportunities, sending shots over the crossbar, wide of the net, or too close to goalie Bailey Gavitt. But, there were a pair of opportunities the Tigers didn’t miss that resulted in goals.

With 11:04 of the opening quarter gone, Syenna Flores lined up a free kick and took direct aim at the goal 35 yards away. Her shot had plenty of power, and was placed perfectly just under the crossbar and to the left of Gavitt sailing across the goal line and pounding the back netting for a 1-0 Northwestern lead.

“Normally my goal is to chip it into people, but because of the distance I was at, I thought it was more beneficial to try to put it on net,” said Flores. “It’s so exhilarating to get a goal like that, especially in states and to give us an early lead.”

After a few missed opportunities for Northwestern, Lexi Kercher found Sophia Schaffer open on the outside part of the field and got the ball to her quickly. As Schaffer approached the goal, Gavitt came out to make a play and slid to make a block, but Schaffer lifted her shot over the goalie for a 2-0 edge.

Northwestern goalie Olivia Reinhart was sharp in goal all night, and when it appeared that a shot by Aly Taggart was headed for the top part of the goal, Reinhart leaped and was able to punch the ball over the crossbar to save a turn away the Spartans.

“That save was insane; it was just great,” said Flores, who had a good view of the play. “Liv (Reinhart) is always amazing. She didn’t have to make a lot of saves tonight, but then she comes up with a save like that and keeps our shutout intact.”

Northwestern (25-0) then took advantage of mistakes by Hughesville to stretch the lead to 4-0. The Tigers were awarded a corner kick that Schaffer played perfectly to Paige Bissell, who deposited the ball past Gavitt for a 3-0 lead.

Next, Northwestern took advantage of a yellow card given to Lizzy Wolfe that left the Spartans down a player for two minutes. Just 1:08 into the penalty, Schaffer again fed Bissell, and the Tigers grabbed a four-goal lead.

“I think we did a really good job both offensively and defensively. We were able to combine our one-two touch passes, and that’s something we really need to carry through the playoffs,” said Bissell. “They have a pretty good offense, and I’m really proud of our defense to be able to get that shutout.”

SEMIFINAL REDO … Defending state champion Central Columbia defeated Lake Lehman 3-0 Tuesday night in their opening game. That means the Blue Jays and Tigers will meet in the quarterfinals, a round earlier than they did last season when Central Columbia ended Northwestern’s season by beating them in the semifinals. The two teams also met early in the regular season this year with Northwestern taking a 1-0 victory. The quarterfinals will be played Saturday with the place and time to be announced. “We created a nice little rivalry with them over the last few years, and we’ll try to get a different result than we had last year,” said Northwestern head coach Jordan Smith. “You know we will be ready for that one.”

DYNAMIC DUO … In the District 11 semifinals, sophomore Schaffer not only reached the 100-point mark for the season, but also reached the halfway mark in pursuit of 100 career goals. With seven goals and nine assists in the postseason, Paige Bissell now has 31 goals and 36 assists on the season to give her 98 points for her senior season as she seeks to join Schaffer in the 100-point club. The tandem of Bissell and Schaffer have seven goals during the postseason where one has the goal off an assist from the other. Schaffer has four goals and three assists, while Bissell has three of the goals and four assists.