With the early October weather feeling more fit for indoor fun, the Northwestern Lehigh field hockey team came outside to play on Monday and still found it to be a lot of fun.

The Tigers made Northern Lehigh their latest prey after they exited Bulldog Stadium with a 10-1 win.

In all, seven different players scored for Northwestern Lehigh (10-4-1 Overall, 9-3-1 Colonial League), with Brinley Rex and Carsyn Van Norman leading the way. Rex notched a hat trick with three goals in the cold, murky weather while Van Norman picked up two.

The win was the fourth straight - and sixth in its last seven outings - as Northwestern raced toward the playoffs.

“We’ve talked about being aggressive on our attack, and that’s something that we have needed to work on,” said coach Lissa Opolsky. “We came out today and were much better with our aggressiveness, and were able to make things happen.”

In its last six wins, Northwestern has scored a total of 39 goals, and has shown the potential for a strong offensive output.

It’s fair to mention that the combined record of its opponents in those wins is 19-49-2, something that Opolsky pointed out.

“Our struggles have come against the better teams in the area, and we are going to have to show that we can play against those types of teams. It all comes down to showing the same kind of confidence against the better teams that we have against teams that are struggling,” Opolsky noted.

With the loss, the Bulldogs fell to 0-15-0 (0-12-0).

Currently, Northwestern is seeded fourth in the Colonial League playoffs, and will likely be locked into that spot. They stand behind Wilson (13-0-0), Moravian Academy (12-1-0) and Southern Lehigh (10-2-1), all teams that have beaten the Tigers this season. Their other loss came to EPC powerhouse Nazareth (11-2-0, 9-2-0 EPC).

With Southern Lehigh being in 2A field hockey in districts, the Tigers will still have Wilson and Moravian Academy to deal with in the 1A classification.

“We really can’t be seeded any higher because we haven’t beaten those teams, so we will likely be fourth in the Colonial and third in districts. We are capable of beating those teams though,” said Opolsky. “One of the things that we have battled is confidence, and some of that stems from losing to those teams. We are getting more confident, and I think that when the playoffs come around, we will be a more confident team and able to go out and show what we can do against those teams and any other teams we run across.”

Opolsky noted that the team is getting more confident, and showing the benefits of having gone through the season. While her team has six seniors, they have all had to work on stepping up in big spots, as they are now the team leaders.

Opolsky will spend the remaining time between now and the postseason working with individuals on their skills, and looking to fine tune some deficiencies that she sees in the team that need a little cleaning up.

“I think we have to have better communication on defense, and stay aggressive offensively,” noted Opolsky. “Other than that, the girls have to be confident in themselves and step up over the final three games, not just for themselves, but to set the example for the younger players. We are going to look to them to lead us over the rest of the season and into the playoffs.”

REST OF THE WAY

… With the exception of the season finale against Brandywine Heights (4-8-0, 3-4-0) out of District 3, Northwestern’s home schedule is done for the regular season. The remaining two league games are at Bangor (6-8-1, 6-5-1) and Catasauqua (2-11-0, 2-11-0).