A cold, misty rain fell at Tiger Stadium Wednesday night as Palmerton traveled to New Tripoli for a key faceoff with Northwestern Lehigh in Colonial League hockey.

The two teams, who could potentially battle again in the postseason, fought the elements and each other, with the Tigers coming out on top 5-1.

If the weather affected the game at all, it may have taken a toll on some of the player’s psyche. The Tigers had several early opportunities and controlled play throughout the first quarter, but came away empty until the final minute, which combined with the weather, made things difficult mentally.

“I think the biggest issue with the weather is that it brings down everyone’s mood. I think the hardest thing is to just keep the morale up and be excited to play when it’s raining and we’re getting all wet,” said Northwestern’s Cara Thomas. “It was frustrating early on. A lot of times we start off slow and then once we get a goal, we rack them up from there, but it was frustrating early on tonight.”

With :59 left in the opening quarter, Hannah Gober took the ball down the middle and fired a shot from about eight yards in front of the goal for a 1-0 lead. From there, Palmerton got its first pressure of the game on the Northwestern defense, as it pushed deep into Tigers territory but was unable to get a good look at the cage for a shot.

After the break, Northwestern came out more determined, and in the first minute of play, senior Carsyn Van Norman made a move past a defender to find a path to push the ball through to make it a 2-0 edge for the Tigers. Just :41 later, it was Thomas who found an opening to give the Tigers three goals in a span of 2:18.

Palmerton coach Megan Leadbetter took a timeout and when play resumed, Palmerton came out with more energy and picked up its first corner with 8:55 left in the quarter. Unable to convert, the Bombers were awarded another corner, and this time Mikayla Pengelly found herself at the left corner of the goal where she received a pass and pushed it through for the first goal of the night for Palmerton.

The Bombers were again threatening after intercepting a pass and moving quickly toward the goal, but a shot on goal was turned away by Smolinsky with a sliding kick save.

Northwestern was awarded a corner with :03 left and was unable to convert, although it did draw another corner but was again thwarted by Palmerton.

With a 3-0 lead to open the third quarter, Thomas picked up her second goal of the game after a pass from Taylor Langley helped her put the ball into the cage just ahead of a sliding Palmerton player attempting to make the save. As momentum shifted throughout the quarter, Northwestern added one more score on the board when Haley Kershner put a shot toward the mouth of the goal and Van Norman was able to deflect it away from the goalie to make it 5-1 with just 3:48 to play.

“We kicked ourselves in the tush a little bit today,” said Leadbetter. “With two weeks left in the season, we’re trying to make sure everybody stays healthy, and nobody is sick, which we dealt with a little today. Even today we were still moving some bodies around prior to when the game started, and we’re getting ourselves comfortable with that.”

THREE IN THREE… Wednesday kicked off a stretch of three games in three days for Northwestern, as the Tigers host Nazareth (11-1-0 EPC, 11-1-0 overall) and Catasauqua (5-6-0, 5-7-0) in back-to-back games Thursday and Friday. After that stretch, the Tigers have two days off before another stretch of three games in three days when they face defending 1A state champion Oley Valley (5-4-0), Northern Lehigh (4-8-0, 1-13-0), and then travel to Palmerton for a rematch with the Bombers.

Palmerton 0 1 0 0 - 1

Northwestern 1 2 1 1 - 5

Goals: Northwestern - Thomas 2, Van Norman 2, Gober 1; Palmerton - Pengelly.

Assists: Northwestern - Langley 1, Kershner 1

Records: Palmerton (7-3-0 Colonial, 8-4-1 overall); Northwestern (10-0-0, 11-1-0)