While sometimes it’s difficult to figure out why a team may have inconsistency in its play, the answer is pretty clear for Northwestern Lehigh.

A number of key injuries have kept players off the field completely, or at least limited their playing time this season, which has made it difficult for the offense to really kick it into high gear.

In five of its eight games this season, Northwestern has scored two or fewer goals.

On Wednesday, the Tigers (4-1 Colonial League, 6-2 overall) got senior Jeff Garcia back in the lineup for the first time this season, and he converted two penalty kicks to lead his team to a 2-1 win over Pen Argyl. The last three Northwestern wins have all come by identical 2-1 scores, and they also suffered a 2-1 loss in their last four games.

“We really haven’t had a game where we had our full team on the field this season,” said coach Nate Hunsicker. “Today was the closest that we’ve been, but we still have three defensemen who are out and it makes it difficult to find that consistency, especially on offense.”

The first penalty kick by Garcia came just 27 seconds into the contest after Pen Argyl (0-3, 0-3) was called for tripping inside the box. Garcia calmly stepped to the ball and fired a shot to the right side of the goal that went past goalkeeper Graham Rose to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Throughout much of the first half, the Tigers kept pressure on Pen Argyl, but were unable to get shots on goal, instead sending a number of shots over or wide of the net.

The Green Knights came out being the ones to apply the pressure in the second half, but also found their shots going off center. One shot appeared to be headed just under the crossbar, but goalie Austin Vogwill jumped to tip the ball over the bar to avoid allowing Pen Argyl to tie the game.

Pen Argyl was awarded a direct kick with 13:07 left in the game, and Luke Maggipinto placed his kick over the wall of defenders from 30-yards out, depositing it to Vogwill’s left near the top corner of the net. Maggipinto’s goal tied the game, but it also seemed to energize the Northwestern players, who started to put more pressure on Rose.

A tripping penalty in the box was called against the Knights with 8:51 left to play, and Garcia fired a shot much like his first penalty kick that scorched its way past Rose for the go-ahead goal.

“It’s nice to have Jeff back for those situations,” said Hunsicker. “We have other guys who have stepped up and could have taken those kicks for us, but Jeff seems to have a way of burying penalty shots.”

YOU HAVE TO SHOOT TO SCORE … Northwestern was credited with just seven official shots on goal while Pen Argyl had just two. Both teams seemed content to fire from a distance rather than work the ball into position for high percentage shots. Rose was credited with seven saves, most of which were relatively easy stops.

YOU CAN’T DO THAT … As the game went on, the play became more physical. Maggipinto was given a yellow card with 1:32 left in the game for a blatant hit in the middle of the field. A number of other fouls were called late in the game, as frustration seemed to set in among both teams.

THE ROAD AHEAD … The Tigers have a stretch of three road games on the upcoming schedule with games at Wilson, Moravian Academy and Northern Lehigh. Four of their final six games are on the road, with just Salisbury and Catasauqua remaining on the home schedule.