READING - It was the night that the lights went out in Exeter.

As both Northwestern Lehigh and Radnor began strategizing at halftime, the neighborhood around Exeter Township High School went dark and took Don Thomas Stadium with it.

At the time, Northwestern led 1-0 on the strength of a goal from Sophia Motolese. In the end, a penalty kick and a goal in the second overtime period gave Radnor a 2-1 win and a trip to the PIAA semifinals.

It was the Lady Tigers who got the scoring started, though when they were awarded a direct kick with about 28 minutes left in the half, it would have been somewhat routine for most teams. After all, the kick was coming from 45 yards away from the mouth of the goal, but the difference in this kick was that Motolese was the one taking it.

The kick was perfectly centered on goal, and goalkeeper Mallory Toomey came out expecting it to fall short, but then had to backtrack as the ball wound up arching just under the crossbar.

Being off balance, Toomey was unable to get any vertical jump, and the ball went off her fingertips and into the net.

That was the only scoring of the first half, and the game entered what would be an extended halftime when the power outage hit. While the teams retreated to the locker rooms, it took an hour and 10 minutes for the lights to come back on, and another 25 minutes to get the teams back on the field and warmed up and ready to go.

When play resumed, Radnor came out being the aggressor and went into persistent attack mode.

The Tigers’ defense turned away those attacks, and goalkeeper Naomi Glassberg made athletic saves, including tipping a shot by Jane Daiutolo over the crossbar.

“Our defense did their usual great job for us tonight,” said coach Jordan Smith, who has now completed his first season at the helm of the team. “Naomi made some really big saves for us, and that was huge because they were very aggressive and gave our defense everything we could handle.”

As time started to run low, Radnor again brought an attack through the box and Northwestern Lehigh was called for a penalty. Emily Daiutolo took the penalty kick and put it past Glassberg to tie the game 1-1.

Time ran out and the game went through one overtime period with no scoring, although Northwestern Lehigh had some opportunities.

In the second overtime, Radnor came out looking for a quick score. Jane Daiutolo fired a perfect cross to Ivy Chaskelson, who was at the corner post and beat Glassberg with a shot into the back of the net to end the Lady Tigers season.

“We played hard, but it’s still a tough pill to swallow,” said Smith. “We had that hour-and-a-half break in the middle of the game, and it was tough to bounce back from that as well.”

FAB 14 … The Lady Tigers have a huge graduating class, with 14 seniors on their roster who will be moving on. The good news is that many of the underclassmen received quality minutes on the field throughout the season to give Northwestern Lehigh reason to believe in reloading, and not rebuilding. “It’s not only about their play on the field, it’s the way they carry themselves and the way they handle the younger kids on the team,” said Smith of his senior players. “The future is still bright, and we’ll continue to work with them, but for now, I have 14 seniors who are hurting, and I’m hurting for them.”

SUPPORT … Several of the girls soccer players were in attendance for the Northwestern Lehigh football game Friday night at Northern Lehigh, and the grid players returned the favor by showing up in good numbers Saturday for the PIAA quarterfinal game at Exeter Township High School. Most of them stood at the fence surrounding the field to cheer on the team, and they were there again for the boys game against Bishop Shanahan.