ALLENTOWN — Love it or hate it, after two overtime periods, playoff soccer games are decided by penalty kicks.

That method wound up favoring Palisades on Tuesday, as they picked up a 4-1 win in the penalty kick phase to capture the Colonial League semifinal 3-2 over Northwestern.

The loss marked the third straight season that Northwestern was knocked out of the Colonial League playoffs in the semifinals.

Palisades got off to a strong start when Melissa Koch tallied the game’s first goal just over five minutes into the contest. Koch fired a shot that was stopped by goalie Lauren Terrell, but rolled just far enough away that Kock was able to have a second opportunity that she kicked into the back of the net.

It was nearly 20 minutes later when Kylie Schmidt challenged Terrell and was able to sneak a shot to Terrell’s right that went just out of her reach for a second Pirates goal and a 2-0 lead.

Just when it looked like Palisades would take a 2-0 lead into the break, Northwestern’s Olivia Motolese fired a shot from 30 yards out and her sister, Maggie Motolese, deflected the ball to get it past goalie Trinity Williams with just :41 left in the first half.

The goal sparked something for the Tigers, who came out and got another goal from Maggie Motolese early in the second half. This time, it was the elder of the three Motolese girls who shot from a distance of about 25 yards out and put the ball past Williams to tie the game.

Northwestern dominated play over the final 40 minutes of regulation, and didn’t allow Palisades to get a shot on goal until there was just 4:05 left in regulation. Terrell made a nice stop on a shot by Koch that could well have put Palisades on top.

Northwestern also stymied a Palisades corner with just :45 remaining in the second half, and then with just :20 left, Bailey Groff put a shot on goal that went just wide right as Northwestern looked to wrap up the win.

“That was a huge goal for us to get some momentum and some spirit going into halftime,” said Tiger coach Kelly Bleam. “I thought we had the better of the play in the second half; we had so many opportunities. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to put any of them away.

“We made some early mistakes defensively, something that we’ve been working on all season to fix; I think we might have fixed it now, unfortunately, too late.”

The two teams went up-and-down the field in the first overtime period, with neither team really flexing their muscles. In the second overtime, it looked like Northwestern would pick up the win, but they again had trouble finishing opportunities. Sara Hathaway put a shot wide right, and late in the second overtime, put one wide left. In between those two, Maggie Motolese put a direct kick over the crossbar with 1:25 left in overtime.

In the penalty kicks, Palisades went up 2-0, before Groff made it 2-1 with a shot to Williams’ left. Sydney Steere made it 3-1 in favor of Palisades, before Williams made a diving stop on a shot by Kayla Bardonner to keep it 3-1. Emma Smeland came up for the Pirates with a chance to clinch the game, and was able to put a shot past Terrell for the game winner.

LET’S GET PHYSICAL ... Palisades came out playing tough, and seemed to pick up their physical style of play later in the game. The play didn’t seem to affect the Northwestern players, as they seemed to expect that style of game.

“Palisades is known to be a physical, very hard-hitting team, so we expected that from them,” explained Bleam.

UP NEXT ... For Northwestern, they have to wait until next week to see who they’ll play in the first round of the District 11 tournament. Palisades will face Southern Lehigh in the Colonial League final Thursday at Salisbury. The Spartans shut out top-seeded Saucon Valley 1-0, and will look to win their fourth straight league championship.