Coming into the District 11 Championship, Northwestern Lehigh had held its opponents scoreless in 11 games since the start of the regular season, including in seven of the last eight games.

Coach Kelly Bleam warned her players that their meeting against Pottsville Thursday night wasn’t likely to add to their season shutout totals because Pottsville would bring a lot of offensive firepower.

Bleam was right, as the Tigers had to twice battle back from one-goal deficits, but ultimately downed the Tide 4-2 to win their second straight district championship, taking the 3A title in their first season in the higher classification after previously playing at the 2A level.

“One of the last things I told them was that we’re very likely going to give up a goal. This is a very good team, and they’re great goal scorers, so if we give up a goal, we learn from it, we adjust and we continue to play,” said Bleam. “We had to constantly make adjustments because that team is so good. We had to find a way to solve the problem, and it was super hard.”

The goal that Bleam expected to allow came early in the game when Pottsville used sharp passing to weave through the Tigers’ defense, setting up Grace Evans for an open shot that gave goalkeeper Naomi Glassberg little opportunity to defend.

As it turned out, Northwestern did learn from the play and adjusted appropriately - what it didn’t do was panic. As the first half approached the midpoint, Sophia Motolese worked some magic on a bending corner kick to tie the game at 1-1.

The second half seemed to be a case of déjà vu as Maddy Lenker got an early goal and Pottsville pushed back to a 2-1 lead over the defending champions.

Just seven minutes later, however, Kylie Zentz beat two defenders directly in front of the net and again tied the game.

With the clock down to 22:00 left in regulation, Motolese sent in another corner kick bending toward the near post. Lexi Bleam threw her upper-body at the ball to redirect it into the net for the Tigers’ first lead of the game at 3-2.

“I don’t think she [Bleam] could get her head down far enough, and I think she was looking for any body parts to get on it, so she just kind of used her shoulder and head combination and maybe the ear, too,” said coach Bleam.

“I was just really excited,” said Lexi Bleam of her goal. “Sophia [Motolese] kept putting the ball on frame on every corner. We’re really lucky to have her, and that she has the ability to do that.”

From there, it was all about defense for Northwestern. With just under 11 minutes to play, Pottsville fired a shot on goal that Glassberg initially stopped, but it bounded off her and stopped directly in front of an open net. As Pottsville rushed toward the ball, senior Maggie Mauro first shielded the ball and then cleared it to preserve the one-goal edge for Northwestern.

“I think everyone thought Naomi [Glassberg] had it, but it got loose. I was tracking the girl coming in, and I just knew I had to shield her off it first and afterward, I was able to just boot it out,” explained Mauro.

With the game clock dwindling its way down, Pottsville had another open look at the goal, but Glassberg made an athletic play to control the shot, again turning away an opening for Pottsville to tie the game.

Kayla Bardonner put the finishing touches on the Tiger victory with just: 05 left to play, beating goalie Ava Cesari.

HERSHEY BOUND? ... With 10 senior players on the roster, Northwestern Lehigh enters states with a solid, experienced group of players its hoping sends them to the title game in Hershey later this month. First up is a meeting against the District 12 champion next Tuesday.

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN? … Kelly Bleam dropped somewhat of a bombshell after the game, telling media that she is “considering” retiring after Northwestern Lehigh’s run ends. Bleam was hired prior to the 1999 season after being the first girls soccer coach at Southern Lehigh. “I’m not sure I’m going to coach any more games, so this is really awesome,” said Bleam. “I think you just can’t imagine as you’re considering perhaps wrapping up your career, you can’t really imagine that it would end like this.”