SALISBURY - Sophomore Paige Bissell put Northwestern on the board early in Monday night’s Colonial League soccer quarterfinal playoff game against Northern Lehigh.

From there, three other Tiger players took turns scoring goals as third-seeded Northwestern downed the No. 6 seed Bulldogs, 5-0, to earn a berth in the league semifinals.

Just after the first minute of the game, Bissell found the back of the net for the early lead. The Tigers (13-4-1) fell into a bit of a lull after the goal, but were still able to put a second goal on the board with 29:00 left in the first half on a score by Sammie Bardonner, who found the back of the net off a corner kick to make it 2-0.

“The corner was played in, and the ball was loose and dribbling around the net, and I just took my opportunity and put it in the corner,” Bardonner said.

“We talked during the pregame about coming out hot and trying to put one away early and setting the tone,” said Northwestern coach Jordan Smith. “We got a little lackadaisical after that first goal and got a little complacent. After we were on a few minutes, we worked things out.”

Northwestern continued to dominate the play and keep pressure on Bulldog sophomore goalkeeper Dekota Barthold, who was able to turn away some shots while others sailed just wide.

Bardonner had an open look and took a shot that sailed just over the crossbar midway through the first half. As the Tigers continued to pressure Barthold, Katie Brensinger picked up a goal with 8:39 left in the first half to provide a little breathing room with a 3-0 lead.

“The first 20 minutes, we weren’t communicating well enough, and because of that lack of communication, we were getting a little disorganized out there and a little out of place, and it led to a few letdowns on the field,” said Smith. “After we talked about that at halftime, the second half was just great, and the communication set us up to do some nice things out there.”

With Northwestern again dominating in the second half, Camryn Fitch fired a direct kick into the top corner of the goal from 25 yards out. Bardonner capped the scoring later when she knifed her way through the defense and fired a laser that glanced off Barthold’s hands and into the goal for a 5-0 lead, capping the scoring for the Tigers.

“We had some issues in the beginning of the season, and had some ups and downs,” Bardonner said. “We are getting a lot more confidence on the field, and that’s important because we want to defend our league and district championships from last year. We hope to make it at least as far as we did last season, and maybe take it a little further.”

Northern Lehigh (10-9) found some opportunities throughout the game, but was unable to finish the chances it found and was held off the board by a stingy Northwestern defense.

The Bulldogs will now wait to see who they play in the District 11 tournament, which gets underway next week.