EMMAUS - Tuesday night marked the fourth time Northern Lehigh and Southern Lehigh met on the field hockey field this season.

Twice during the regular Colonial League season, once in the league semifinals and now in the District 11 Class 2A semifinals.Prior to last night's meeting at Memorial Field, the differential in the outcome of the contest between the league foes was a single score. This time, Southern Lehigh was able to sneak in an insurance goal to come away with a 3-1 victory over Northern Lehigh.Adrienne Searfoss knew all too well what Southern Lehigh was getting itself into once again against Jess Frew and her Northern Lehigh Bulldogs. The Bulldogs came to battle with their sticks in hand once again."Jess's team always comes ready to play," Searfoss said. "She has done an excellent job with that program over the years. You know it's going to be a battle when Southern Lehigh/Northern Lehigh go to play."Especially with having played them four times, it's probably got to be the hardest thing to do. And continue to improve and still try to beat that team. Fortunately, we were able to step up and do that today."For the fourth time this season, Southern Lehigh was the first ones on the scoreboard. For the second time only however, the Spartans were able to post a first half goal against Northern Lehigh goalkeeper Veronica Green.Lizzi Thom took in a deflection off a prior shot off Green's pads from Kylie Schmitt and pushed it past the Bulldogs' keeper to the back of the cage. Schmitt was credited with the assist, which gave the Spartans a 1-0 lead.That was all the scoring in the first half. The second half told a bit of a different story though. In fact, in the last two meetings, the Spartans have scored all their goals against the Bulldogs in the final 30 minutes.It was the Bulldogs that struck first in the second half, however. With 21:10 left in the game, seniors Jess Olewine and Erika Mckay made it a whole new game connecting on what turned out to be the Bulldogs' lone goal.Mckay took the initial shot, Olewine put her stick out and the ball hit her stick and flipped directly over the Spartans' keeper Jenna Cyr to the back of the cage. Olewine was credited with the goal and Mckay with the assist.A little over seven minutes later, the Spartans were back up by one as Sophia Boyle scored an unassisted goa. It looked as if it was going to go wide left of the cage. However, it struck the near post on the cage and deflected right into the back of the Bulldogs' cage, giving the Spartans a 2-1 lead.Thom then decided to add a little twist into the outcome of this matchup by putting her Spartans up by two with her second goal on the night. Boyle was credited with the assist.While it brought a sigh of relief to Searfoss and her Spartans, it was a bit of a heartbreaker for Frew and her Bulldogs on a night that showed her program giving it their all to get back to the title game once again.Meanwhile, it wasn't meant to be and Frew knew the difference in the outcome."They just played a very strong, aggressive game," Frew said. "We tried to match it. It just seemed like they attacked a little harder and when they had opportunities, they utilized on them to score."We only had a few corners. I'm not quite sure how many. Probably five or six. So, on our corners, (which was six), we didn't covert like we needed to. So, that made it the difference in the game."Regardless of the failing to prevail against their league nemesis, Frew always finds a way to find a positive on a bit of a negative night."It just has been a really great season," Frew stressed. "I wish the best for my seniors and I look forward to working, and focusing on the young group again rebuilding and getting another shot at Southern Lehigh and everybody else."I'm really proud of their performance and the effort they put forth tonight and all season. They love the game. They want to be successful. And, they work hard. I can't ask for a better team."With the win, the Spartans have the opportunity to defend last year's title as they will now face another league counterpart, and this year's Colonial League champion, Moravian Academy in Saturday's Class 2A championship game at Whitehall.