Score early and score often.

It’s a good game plan in any situation and one that Northwestern executed perfectly Thursday night to beat Moravian Academy 3-1 in the Colonial League semifinals, taking a spot in the championship game on Saturday.

The Tigers needed just 37 seconds to pick up their first goal, which came on a corner kick. Less than five minutes later, they took advantage of a Moravian penalty in the box to convert on a penalty kick for a commanding 2-0 lead.

Many of the fans had not even settled in yet when Northwestern (16-1-1) was awarded a corner kick. Sophia Motolese played the kick to the mouth of the goal where Kate Edgar was waiting and raised up above the other players to head the ball past goaltender Addie Etter.

The goal was a definite momentum boost for the Tigers, who controlled play for much of the first half after Edgar’s goal.

On one of their many trips toward the Moravian Academy goal, a foul was called giving Northwestern a penalty kick, which was taken by Motolese. Her kick had Etter going one way as the ball went just to her other side for a quick 2-0 lead with 24:35 left in the first half.

“Those two goals, coming that quickly, really put them back on their heels,” said Northwestern coach Jordan Smith. “We wanted to come out and score quickly and get in front and the girls did a good job with that, and it made things easier for us to have that nice lead so early in the game.”

Northwestern continued to be the aggressor and seemed to be a step or two ahead of Moravian Academy (11-5-1).

Thanks to strong athletic saves by Etter, the Lions were able to keep it at a two-goal deficit until Kaitlyn Browning and Brooke Balliet hooked up on a nice play that caught Etter in position to defend a shot by Browning, but with Balliet being the one to get Northwestern’s third goal.

As the ball bounded in front of the left post, Browning made an acrobatic move to get the ball to the other post where Balliet was left wide open to push a shot into the back of the net for a 3-0 lead. The goal came with some controversy as Moravian wanted the goal waved off for offsides, but the referees disagreed, and the goal was allowed.

“I just saw Katie on the other side of the post, and I thought just go,” said Balliet. “Everyone was yelling that it was offsides, but I just kept going because I saw the play.”

With just under six minutes left in the half, Moravian Academy was able to gain some momentum and senior Lauren Reid put a shot past Naomi Glassberg to pull the Lions within two goals at 3-1.

While the first half saw four goals, the second saw a defensive battle and two goalies who were at the top of their game.

Glassberg made several impressive saves and at one point left the game temporarily after being run over by a Moravian Academy player. She returned and picked up right where she left off. When Northwestern was able to get some open looks, it was Etter who made big plays to deny Northwestern another goal.

TAKE THREE ... The championship matchup between Southern Lehigh and Northwestern marks the third straight season that the two teams have battled for league supremacy. The Tigers have won the previous two meetings, both by shutouts. This is the first time that they head into the game with longtime assistant coach Jordan Smith as their head coach.

BREAKING IN THE TURF ... The new artificial turf field at Catasauqua High School is only a couple weeks old, but it’s being put to good use. The field was the site of the other semifinal games on both the boys and girls playoffs on Thursday and it will host a Colonial Legue tripleheader on Saturday with the Spartans and Tigers squaring off in both boys and girls soccer and Palmerton facing Southern Lehigh for the league title in field hockey.