It was not a night to remember, but it was a season the Palmerton’s girls soccer team won’t soon forget.

The Blue Bombers’ excellent girls’ soccer team had a rough go of things Tuesday evening in the semifinal round of the District 11 Class 2A tournament.

Allentown Central Catholic had too much speed, made very few mistakes, and utilized an aggressive style of attacking Palmerton in the zone, which enabled the Vikettes to carve out a 2-0 victory.

The win sends ACC (16-2-1) into Thursday evening’s championship to face off with another Colonial League squad, Northwestern Lehigh, which also won by a 2-0 margin over Jim Thorpe in the other semifinal.

It turns out the undoing for the Bombers was the lack of an offensive attack. Of course, that was the game plan for the Vikettes, said head coach Rob Spatzer.

“We like to play defense with our offense,” he said. “By us controlling the ball in their side of the field, it takes a lot of pressure off our defenders, and we put the pressure on their defenders.”

Shoot, the way Allentown Central Catholic kept forcing the issue, even the novice could see what the eventual winners were engaging.

It worked, as at one point ACC had total control for nearly 30 of the 40 minutes, meaning Palmerton couldn’t sustain any type of offensive thrust.

“They’re a fantastic team, they’ve put together another really good team this year,” said Bombers’ coach Dave O’Brien. “We just weren’t able to get anything going on (the) offensive (end), and I was really surprised.”

O’Brien praised his defenders.

“I was really proud of the way they played,” he said. “But you give them enough chances, and they’re going to put one in.”

All of the ACC scoring came in the second half. But, the Palmerton defense was back on its heels for what seemed like an eternity. Much to ACC’s credit, it never got frustrated, stayed the course, and when the opportunity came, the Vikettes hit the jackpot with two goals over the last 29:35.

First it was Dee McMullen cracking the net with a score. Nearly 12 minutes later, the winners used a bomb from Ryleigh Van Beek with a 37-yard boot that just cleared the bar with her direct shot.

“It took us a while to figure out how to attack their defense,” Spatzer said. “We like it to play defense in our offensive surge, so we can put enough pressure to get our offensive surge.”

That was evident in the two goals the Vikettes posted, enabling the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference team to knock down the win.

Spatzer wasn’t comfortable until the final minute came to pass.

“We knew their team could put up a lot of goals in a matter of minutes,” Spatzer would offer. “They had some dangerous scoring threats. We knew we’d have to play tight defensively to stop the long balls.”

The key to the winners’ attack came from center defense, Van Beek, whom Spatzer called the quarterback of the team for the way she directs the offense.

Not lost in the foray for the Blue Bombers was the standout play of a number of players. O’Brien said he was proud of the effort.

“They worked their butts off; we just weren’t able to get that offense,” said the coach. “This one stings; we can’t forget the season we had. (Goalkeeper) Emma Snyder was incredible. Our defenders, Sam Perloni, Courtney O’Connell, Chase Montanari, played fantastic, Beth Morgan, as always, was really good out there, and Nataly Walters up top.”

QUOTABLE

… “They put in so much work, and it really did pay off for them. This was the best in school history. We got the first soccer trophy in school history, and more wins than any Palmerton soccer team has had,” O’Brien said.

LAST BOWS

… Seven Palmerton seniors left the turf for the final time: Emily Houser, Emma Martinez, Alyah Snyder, Julia Finley, Hannah Serfass, Morgan and Perloni all had their final curtain call.

WHAT A PERFORMANCE … Snyder was nothing short of stellar in goal for the Bombers. She was relentless, turning away shot after shot. Unofficially, the junior made 19 saves.