Nothing has come easy for the Northwestern boys soccer team this season. They’ve had to battle their way through the regular season and then lost to top-seed Moravian Academy in the Colonial League semifinals. In their District 11 Class 3A quarterfinal on Wednesday against Saucon Valley, they once again had to battle for everything they got.

But in the end, the Tigers were able to turn a 1-0 halftime deficit into a 4-1 win to advance to the semifinals.

Play in the first half was pretty even between the two teams, but the difference came in the 10th minute of the game when Eric Brown tucked the ball just inside the post to give the Panthers a 1-0 edge.

Even though the lead was small, Northwestern began to show some frustration late in the first half and it disrupted their play. Saucon Valley was dropping five and sometimes, six players into defense making it difficult for the Tigers to penetrate toward the goal.

Northwestern calmed down at halftime and came out looking to move the ball through defenders and was able to work the ball to Colin Coffield, who put a shot past goalkeeper Nicholas Snead to tie the game at 1-1 with just under 31 minutes to play in regulation.

“I don’t take too much credit,” joked coach Nate Hunsicker about what he said at halftime to turn things around. “At times this season, we’ve had some really great build-ups and chances that we just couldn’t connect on and find the back of the net.

“So there definitely was some frustration building up there. We used that as part of our halftime speech and told them ‘we’re putting ourselves in a position to make things happen and it will come together soon enough.’”

Hunsicker was right and eight minutes after Coffield found the net, Jason Blaine did the same to give the Tigers a 2-1 edge.

Slowly, Saucon Valley had to release more players out of their defensive zone to focus on scoring and the Tigers used that to their advantage. Coffield had an open look from 25-yards out and fired a shot to the top part of the goal and over the head of Snead to put Northwestern up 3-1.

“Finishing was what was getting us and we just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net, but when we came out in the second half and got some points on the board it turned around. It feels good to win against Saucon,” said Coffield.

In the 29th minute of the first half, Jeff Garcia played a chip shot over Saucon Valley defenders that was positioned perfectly and bounced to the back of the net to stretch the lead to three goals.

“We outplayed them in the first half and the score was not indicative of how that first half was played. We easily could have been up a goal or two ourselves, if not more,” said Hunsicker. “In the second half, we finally found the back of the net and I had said ‘once we find the first one, more will come.’ The key was to get that first one and break the ice and open up the flow of the game a bit more.”

REVENGE ... Saucon Valley downed Northwestern during the regular season, but more vivid in the memory of Northwestern players was the fact that Saucon Valley ended their district run last season by beating the Tigers 1-0 in the district championship. The Tigers were determined not to let that happen again this season, especially in an earlier round.

“They knocked us out of districts last year and when we got the first goal, we really wanted to show them that we deserved that title last year. It does feel really good to have come back like that and to score four goals,” said Coffield.

CHANGING THE SCRIPT ... The scenario of coming into the tournament as the fourth-seed and having to play the top-seed in the semis is how Northwestern was eliminated in the league tournament and they’re facing the same situation in districts. They face top-seed Blue Mountain in the semifinals on Monday with the place and time still to be determined.

“Everybody who is left at this point in the tournament is here for a reason, so there are no easy games,” said Hunsicker of drawing the No. 1 seed for their next game.