The pressure of the postseason doesn’t seem to faze the Palmerton field hockey team.

After capturing the program’s first district title since 1983 a year ago, the Bombers have their sights set on even more playoff success this fall.

And they’re off to a good start.

A pair of fourth-period goals helped Palmerton knock off Moravian Academy 3-2 in the Colonial League wildcard round on Monday.

It was the type of performance Bombers’ head coach Megan Leadbetter was confident her team was capable of.

“They were never down. I tell them to play their hockey,” said Leadbetter. “I told them that I didn’t see their best hockey yet, until that goal went in against them, and they realized they had to work just that little bit harder. That’s been kind of the response to this season; we’ve always been down, losing by one, or going into overtime. But I knew they had it. I knew they had it, and they just have to believe it. Honestly that’s the biggest thing, echoed all the way from the seniors to the freshmen, starters to the girls on the bench, play your hockey. Go out and play Palmerton field hockey, and that’s what you saw.”

Sydney Frantz put the fifth-seeded Bombers (11-6) ahead with a goal off a corner with 5:27 to play in the fourth period.

“We just have something special with our team,” said Frantz. “We play as a team no matter what. If we do get down, we know we need to pull through and do it as a team, and we will score no matter what.

“The ball was coming to me, and I was like, ‘I just have to shoot and hope for the best and hopefully my teammates will tap it in.’ But it just happened like that (and went in).”

Kira Hauser scored off an assist from Mackenzie Long to make it 2-2 with 9:19 left in the fourth.

“So Mikayla Pengelly, she dodged the goalie, because the goalie came out, and she lifted it up and there were two of Moravian’s defenders and they had their sticks crossed,” Hauser said of her goal. “And it was up in the air and I hit it kind of between their sticks. It was up in the air and I wasn’t sure if the ref was going to call it (a goal) but she did and it was great.”

Megan Dadio fired a shot into the back of the cage following a corner a little more than a minute after tying the game to give the fourth-seeded Lions (12-3-1) a 2-1 lead in the third period.

Moravian evened the score when Dadio lifted the ball into the back of the cage to make it 1-1 with 2:39 left in the third period.

The Bombers broke through early in the third quarter when Skylar Kohler found the back of the cage with 13:42 left in the period to make it 1-0.

Moravian had four corners - and another ball that made its way in front of the cage - during the third period in the span of roughly two minutes but couldn’t produce any goals.

The Bombers turned back a scoring opportunity for Moravian in the final minutes of the second period when the Lions sent the ball toward the cage, but Palmerton goalie Emily Bollinger kicked it away to keep the game scoreless.

Frantz nearly made it 2-0 for Palmerton with a little over 6:00 left in the third period, but the shot went wide.

LAST YEAR

... Southern Lehigh topped Palmerton in last year’s Colonial League championship game. The Spartans also posted a 2-1 win over the Bombers on Sept. 16.

TIME AND PLACE

... The semifinal contest will take place Thursday at Northern Lehigh at 7 p.m.