CATASAUQUA - Nobody ever takes the Northwestern Lehigh field hockey program lightly and after their upset win over Wilson in the Colonial League semifinals, Southern Lehigh was not going to take any chances against the Tigers in the league finals on Saturday at Catasauqua’s Alumni Field.

The challenge coming in for the Tigers was to find a way to score against a Spartans team that allowed just 10 goals all season, and it was just that challenge that left Northwestern players with silver around their necks - instead of gold - when they fell to Southern Lehigh, 3-0.

The story early on was about the disparity in corners as the Spartans had six in the first quarter and seven more in the second. Meanwhile, Northwestern (15-5-1) managed just two corners in the first half.

The Tigers fought off the challenges in the first quarter and most of the second, but with 2:33 left before the half, Cassidy Clausnitzer put a shot on goal that Piper Gluck tipped into the net for a 1-0 lead.

Southern Lehigh (15-3-1) had two more close calls in the half when Lana Hughes put a shot off the post and seconds later fired a penalty stroke wide of the cage.

“We had some plans on different ways to defend things so that we could keep them on their toes. We didn’t defend the same way the entire time and that was super helpful,” said Northwestern coach Lissa Opolsky.” Once they broke through, we still felt like we had some opportunities. We just had to get a little hungrier,”

After rolling up a dominant amount of corner opportunities in the first half, the Spartans were denied another corner for the rest of the game. Northwestern, on the other hand, became the aggressor and drew 12 corners over the final two quarters of the game.

“We started to get more opportunities, but unfortunately, we were not able to capitalize on anything,” said Opolsky of her team’s play in the third and fourth quarters. “They had some good speed coming out on the fly and the trails coming out, so we were trying to use multiple passes to try to beat some of their top defense.

“We had some opportunities, but just couldn’t clean up in front, plus they have a very good goalkeeper.”

Gluck would continue to be a nemesis over the final 30 minutes as she picked up her second goal of the game in the third quarter off an assist from Reese MacIntosh and then with just :10.6 left to play, netted her third goal of the game.

BACK-TO-BACK GOLD ... Southern Lehigh now has back-to-back gold in Colonial League field hockey. It is the first time that a team has repeated as champions since Moravian Academy ruled the league and won titles in three consecutive seasons from 2014 to 2016. Northwestern won the league title in 2020, beating the Spartans 2-1 in the title game.

PALISADES UP NEXT ... The loss made the Tigers the No. 3 seed in the 1A classification for districts, giving them a quarterfinal game against No. 6 seed Palisades on Thursday. The two teams met in the same game last year at Palisades and it was the end of the road for Northwestern when they fell to the Pirates 1-0.