BETHLEHEM TOWNSHIP - Thursday’s Colonial League boys soccer semifinal wasn’t the first time this year Northwestern held a two-goal lead over Moravian Academy. It wasn’t even the first time this month.

But it was the first time the Tigers were able to maintain the lead over the Lions until the final horn sounded.

Northwestern scored two early goals Thursday en route to a 2-0 win over Moravian that avenged a recent loss to the Lions.

“That was something that was in the back of our heads the whole time,” said Tiger junior Colin Coffield, who scored one of his team’s goal in the win. “These guys put two goals on us last time. We can’t let that happen again.”

The No. 3 seed Tigers (11-3-0 overall) advance to Saturday’s league title game to face top seed Southern Lehigh. The Spartans (10-1-0) beat Bangor 4-0 in Thursday’s other semifinal.

Ten days ago in a non-league game, Northwestern was up 3-1 over Moravian and saw the lead slip away in the second half before losing the game in overtime.

In Thursday’s playoff game, the Tigers got their two goal lead in the first 16 minutes and this time they made sure it didn’t slip away.

Coffield got Northwestern on the board when he took a pass from Jeff Garcia in front of the net and sent it past Lions keeper Vinny Lamberti for a 1-0 lead with 29:11 left in the first half.

“I just saw the ball get sprayed out wide and I knew I had to be some sort of option in the middle,” said Coffield. “I just took off for the midfield full sprint. Cross came in. Jeff gave it a little flick over the defender and all I had to do was just control it down and put it in the net.”

Just over five minutes later Seth Brady put the Tigers ahead 2-0 on a give-and-go with teammate Phil Taylor for a 2-0 lead with 24:01 left in the first half.

“I had a little bit of an angle,” said Brady. “I just hit it hard with my left foot and hoped for the best into the corner. The goalie reached out but he didn’t get enough on it and it went in the net.”

Despite the deficit, the Lions knew one goal could change the momentum. They have three come-from-behind wins this season.

“We’ve been there before so we didn’t think we were out of it,” said Moravian head coach George Andriko. “We had some really good goal-scoring chances in the second half. If one of those goes in it’s a different last 30 minutes.”

With the lead, the Tigers clamped down on defense and didn’t allow Moravian (8-2) any quality chances in the first half.

When the Lions started putting some presure on goal in the second half, Tiger keeper Austin Vogwill made a few key saves to preserve the shutout, the team’s seventh of the season but just the second against a team with a winning record.

“Best defensive effort I’ve seen all year, a shutout against a very quality side,” said Coffield. “They have a lot of players that can put the ball in the back of the net and our defense was absolutely fantastic today.”

Northwestern center backs Lucas van Lierop and Ryan Baker anchored the defense and junior Jared Wallander marked the Lions’ biggest scoring threat, Dale Berkove.

Hunsicker said it was the first time this season his team’s defense didn’t make any mental mistakes that led to scoring chances. He was proud of the effort at both ends of the field.

“I could not be happier,’ Hunsicker said. “The boys played an amazing 80-minute, complete game from beginning to end. The defeat we suffered to them during the regular season, the manner which we lost just didn’t sit well with us. We really wanted that payback today. We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task.”

The Lions, which played without their starting center back because of an injury, are eliminated from the league playoffs but will go on to districts in Class A.

TIGER TITLE GAME TRIO ... Northwestern will have three teams playing for Colonial League titles on Saturday as the girls soccer team won its semifinal on Wednesday and the field hockey team was also victorious on Thursday in a semifinal game.

HEALTHY AND HAPPY ... Northwestern, which played more games than any other Colonial League team this fall, is finally back at full strength. Hunsicker said in 10 years of coaching he hasn’t had a team as riddled with injuries than as one. After playing seven games in 11 days to start the season in mid-September, the Tigers have had a little bit more time to rest and recuperate and seem to be peaking at the right time.