Hannah Gober did not care much where her Northwestern Lehigh Tigers were seeded coming into this week’s Colonial League field hockey tournament. In fact, she might have enjoyed the fact that Northwestern, despite being the West Division champion, came in as the No. 4 seed.
“We knew we weren’t going to get the seed we wanted but being the 4-seed, I joke with my teammates, you have the better story for the newspaper,” she said. “It’s just a number. It doesn’t reflect who we are.”
They needed overtime, but the Tigers dug in to defeat Southern Lehigh 2-1 for their second consecutive Colonial League championship Thursday night at Bethlehem Area School District’s Memorial Stadium.
Northwestern (16-5) will be the top seed in the District 11 Class A tournament, which starts next week. Southern Lehigh (16-4-1) will likely be the No. 2 seed in Class 2A.
“The No. 4 seed doesn’t tell the whole story, because in any given conference, you only hope that from top to bottom, the conference is competitive so that you can practice those skills you can’t put in a drill,” Northwestern coach Lissa Opolsky said.
After a scoreless first quarter, Northwestern took a 1-0 lead at the half on Makayla Bressi’s goal. Southern Lehigh regained the momentum and tied it at 1 on Delaney Mack’s goal in the third quarter.
Southern Lehigh had an 8-6 advantage in shots and a 10-7 advantage in corners. The Spartans also drew the concern of Opolsky, who let her team know how she felt heading into overtime.
“My confidence was not there, and I told them that,” she said. “I knew we needed to change something. I’m a very blunt person, as they know. I’m a very blunt person in the classroom and on the field. … I said that they had to make some type of change. We were able to stay resilient, and it ended up paying off in that corner.”
The 7-on-7 proved beneficial to Northwestern. Just three minutes into OT, Gober assisted on Taylor Langley’s game-winning goal.
“We did have some opportunities. We didn’t convert,” Southern Lehigh coach Adrienne Searfoss said. “First half, it was Northwestern; second half, it was us. Unfortunately, overtime happens, and there you go. Northwestern did a great job.”
Gober said that inconsistency led to Northwestern’s poor seed.
“Our biggest step forward was our consistency,” she said. “At the beginning of our season, we were up and down with our play a little bit. Finding the middle ground was really important. Everyone has stepped up and done their jobs really well.”
Opolsky threw some praise at Northwestern goalie Ryan Smolinsky and the Tiger defense.“Ryan was a big wall today,” she said. “She worked her butt off to communicate and organize.”
Southern Lehigh 0 0 1 0 0 — 1
Northwestern Lehigh 0 1 0 0 1 — 2
Southern Lehigh goal: Delaney Mack. Shots: 8. Penalty corners: 10. Saves: Corinne Houck 4.Northwestern Lehigh goals: Makayla Bressi, Taylor Langley. Assists: Hannah Gober. Shots: 6. Penalty corners: 7. Saves: Ryan Smolinsky 7.
Tim Shoemaker is a freelance writer.
