Every time the Northwestern girls lacrosse team attempted to mount a comeback, Allentown Central Catholic quickly flexed its muscles to put down the uprising and then went on to build on its lead.

The Vikettes turned back the Tigers for an 18-7 victory in the District 11 2A semifinals Monday.

No. 2 seed Central Catholic appeared ready to run away with the game from the start as it scored three goals in the opening five minutes of the contest. Northwestern got itself settled and picked up the next two goals to make it a 3-2 game with 3:24 left in the opening quarter.

Freshman Olivia Fagan was undaunted by playing in her first postseason varsity game and got her first goal of the game off of a free play following a Central Catholic penalty for the third-seeded Tigers. Fagan then came right back to score again off an assist from Olivia Costa for the second goal of the game.

“I was really pleased with how the girls kept fighting back. They played really well down the stretch, and we came in looking for a big win and they showed some determination out there and that’s what I have come to expect of them this season,” said Northwestern coach Jess Bahnick.

The Vikettes went back to work, though, and just :40 after Fagan’s second goal, Abigail Aemisegeo got her first score of the game and Central used a perfectly executed set play with Kate Raymond passing from behind the net to Katie Seiler, who was cutting toward the net and put a shot on goal that squeaked past Emma Yanders.

The two would hook up on the same play in the second quarter, as Central Catholic opened a 7-2 advantage with 10:38 left in the second period.

If the Vikettes thought they had put the Tigers away, they were wrong. Costa moved across the front of the goal and used a defender as a screen for her 62nd goal of the season, and Cara Thomas followed that up just :31 later when she scored on a free play, cutting the Vikettes lead to 7-4.

Again, Central Catholic looked to put an end to the rally and would score the next seven goals in the game, including Seiler picking up her 100th career goal early in the third quarter. Seiler ended the game with six goals.

“We had a tough time winning draws today. Seiler is really good at winning draws, and she got the better of the battle today. You have to hand it to her because Olivia [Fagan] has done a great job for us, but we couldn’t win enough of the draws to stay in the game,” said Bahnick. “When we got that control, we did well, but just couldn’t win enough of them.”

Down 14-4, Olivia Spatz picked up a goal for the Tigers with 1:55 left in the third quarter, and Costa and Thomas closed out the game with a pair of late goals but not before the game was out of reach.

Central Catholic (8-10-0) will now play top seed Southern Lehigh (16-2-1) in the 2A championship Wednesday at Lehigh University. The winner will advance to the PIAA tournament. For Northwestern, the Tigers end their season at 7-11-0.

SAYING GOOD-BYE

…Northwestern is a young team with just three seniors – Jillian George, Jayden Gillette, and goalie Emma Yanders, who finished the season with 185 saves to give her 267 career saves with Northwestern. Yanders has committed to playing at Lycoming College after graduation.

SKILL OF THE DRAW

… Costa has 125 career draw controls and Fagan had 84 draw controls in her freshman season for Northwesterb. Meanwhile, Costa will come into next season with 122 career goals, within reach of the 200 goal milestone with a strong senior season.