READING - There's no denying that a 21-2-1 season has a good ring to it, but for the Northwestern Tigers, it was one loss too many. The final loss came Saturday in the Class 2A girls quareterfinals game against Villa Joseph Marie. The Jems downed Northwestern 2-0 to end the Tigers run for a state title.

"It's always tough to lose when you get this far, but when you look at the season as a whole, it was definitely a success," said Northwestern coach Kelly Bleam. "We played hard right to the end, so we have nothing to be ashamed of in that respect."Villa Joseph Marie came out firing and got their first goal just 1:16 into the game when Taylor Stevens headed a corner kick into the goal past a leaping Laura Hill. The play was a result of a defensive lapse on the part of Northwestern that left Hill unmarked in front of the net to head the kick by Allie Trzaska.The Jems played a tough defense and gave the Tigers very little room to operate on offense. Northwestern was able to manage just five shots on goal in the game."Their defense was unbelievable today and we had a tough time getting any open looks," explained Bleam. "That early goal kind of had us scrambling a little and we didn't play the type of defense that we needed to play against them to win today."With the early goal behind them, Northwestern was able to keep Villa off the scoreboard until there was just 8:17 remaining in the game. Northwestern's Sabrina Mertz was given a yellow card and sent to the bench and the Jems took advantage on the restart and Casey Kilchrist was able to blast a shot past Hill to give Villa some breathing room with a 2-0 lead."We can still celebrate the fact that we picked up both the Colonial League title and the District championship and feel good about those accomplishments," said Bleam. "Obviously, we would have liked one more title and it's unfortunate for the seniors, but we should be able to come back strong again next season."Northwestern graduates six seniors, including Grace Baker, Trista Cunningham, Jennifer Hallingstad, Caitlin Harris, Abigail Schneck and Melissa Smith.Villa Joseph Marie advances to the 2A semi-finals against Trinity, who downed Scranton Prep 2-0 on Saturday.