Lehighton and Northwestern came into Thursday night’s meeting jockeying for position with similar records.

Both teams opened the season with two straight wins, but each saw their record dip to around the .500 mark, and both needed a win.

In the end, Northwestern was able to work its way ahead, and hung on for a 3-2 nonleague win over the Indians.

Aleah Norstein put Lehighton (3-3-0) in front when she scored on a penalty stroke to give her team a 1-0 lead with 27:50 left in the first half. The goal seemed to rejuvenate the Lady Tiger offense, which started to pick its way through the defensive zone and work for better shots.

The momentum swung back-and-forth for much of the first half until Northwestern (3-1-1 overall, 2-1-1 Colonial) started to break through.

After being held off the board for the first 26 minutes, Northwestern scored twice in a seven-minute span to take a 2-1 lead into the half. Lauren Schellhamer picked up the first goal with 13:48 left to play, and Brynn Balliet gave the Tigers their first lead of the night when she scored with 6:21 left.

“To get two quick goals like that was important,” said Northwestern head coach Lissa Opolsky. “You always want to go into the break with a lead, and we really felt like it was important in this game.”

The second half was again back-and-forth, with neither team really holding a distinct advantage. Finally, midway through, Reagan Hernandez bought a little insurance for the Tigers to put them up 3-1.

Northwestern again was called for a penalty as Lehighton pressured, resulting in a second penalty stroke opportunity for the Indians, and a second goal for Norstein. That made the game a one-goal contest with 14:10 left in regulation.

From there, Northwestern was able to avoid any further damage, but Lehighton also didn’t allow the Tigers to increase their lead as the game ended with Northwestern up 3-2.

“This was a nice win for us,” said Opolsky. “Overall, I thought we played well, but we did make a couple mistakes that we have to work on, but we played well enough to win.”

IT’S EARLY, BUT ... The win allowed Northwestern to vault past Lehighton in the District 11 Class A rankings, which are used to determine seeding for the postseason. The Lady Tigers are currently fifth, with the Indians sixth. As for the Colonial League, Bangor, Moravian Academy and Southern Lehigh are all 5-0-0 in league play. Southern Lehigh beat Northwestern 2-1 on Tuesday, and they face Bangor on the road on Monday. One week later, the Tigers are at Moravian Academy.

THREE-IN-THREE ... The game against Lehighton was Northwestern Lehigh’s third in a three-day span. After a loss to Southern Lehigh Tuesday, the Tigers hosted Northern Lehigh Wednesday in a game that was suspended by rain and will be completed next week. Lehighton was next, and after a day off, Northwestern plays at Salisbury on Saturday (2-4, 1-4). Without the new turf field, it’s possible that Thursday’s game would not have been played because of a heavy downpour before the game.

TOUGH SCHEDULE ... Things don’t get any easier for the Lady Indians, as they play at Palmerton (4-1-0) before home games against Northampton (4-1, 4-1 EPC) and Bangor. They also have two games against District 2 opponents Dallas and Berwick, as well as games against Schuylkill Valley and Bloomsburg.