A Tiger is changing her stripes.

Cammie Fitch will leave behind Northwestern Lehigh and her career as a Tiger for the spots of a Lafayette Leopard for next fall’s college soccer season.

With four successful seasons of high school soccer behind her, Fitch is ready for the next step of her soccer career.

But what she accomplished during her career - and especially the past two seasons - won’t be easily forgotten.

And it definitely won’t be easily replaced.

Fitch was named the Times News/Lehigh Valley Health Network Player of the Year in her junior season, and mirrored her success this season when Northwestern reached the state semifinals - the furthest any team in Northwestern girls soccer history has ever advanced.

The team’s success came in large part thanks to another superb season from Fitch - who seemed to pick up right where she left off in 2022 when she moved to playing as a multi-position player, moving from her former spot as a striker and shifting to being a center mid and center back player during the postseason.

The move worked well during Northwestern’s postseason run a year ago. So in 2023, Fitch was again given the task of helping on offense, but also being able to assist defensively.

The move was an easy one for Fitch, who had learned that role playing club soccer and got better and better as her senior season went on.

After a 23-goal, 12-assist season as a junior, Fitch scored 22 goals with 21 assists for Northwestern as a senior.

Her play in 2023 not only earned her another TN/LVHN Player of the Year award, but it made Fitch the lone Colonial League player - and one of just four Lehigh Valley players - to be named to the PSCA All-State team.

“Winning the awards I have this year has been amazing,” said Fitch.

The All-State award wasn’t only exciting, but the way Fitch found out made it even more memorable.

Northwestern coach Jordan Smith combined the announcement of Fitch’s selection with another big announcement.

“The coach and his wife are having their first baby, and they had two soccer balls with colored powder inside and during practice, he said they would have a gender reveal for the team at the next practice,” recalled Fitch. “He said he would let me kick the ball to do the reveal since I was an all-state player. It was great.”

As it turned out, Fitch’s kick resulted in a plume of blue powder.

But that was far from her only memorable kick during a career that produced a significant amount of hardware.

Among the highlights were three gold and one silver medal in the Colonial League playoffs, to go with four gold medals in districts. While there were no PIAA medals, Fitch did help push the program to the brink of playing in the state championship game for the first time, leaving a legacy for others to build upon.

“Naturally we wanted to go even further, but even though it was just one game further, it felt great to get to the semifinals,” Fitch said about the Tigers’ improvement from her junior season to this past fall. “We’ll always have that to remember, and it was nice to get the program that far even though we didn’t get to take that final step.”

This might not have been the year that the Tigers would reach the finals, but Fitch believes there are plenty of players still left on the team who will continue the winning legacy at Northwestern.

“Even with the seniors who graduated, there is still plenty of talent on the team, and they should be able to keep winning,” she said. “Plus, there are always young players coming along who can contribute right away, and we saw that this season with the freshmen players who were huge for us.

“It won’t surprise me at all if some of the players on the roster now are part of the team that at least goes to finals, or even wins a state championship.”

Fans see the moves that Fitch makes on the field, but what makes her the player that she is comes down to simply knowing the game better than most.

Smith has talked about how he relies on Fitch not just to act as a coach on the field, but also goes to her in team huddles to talk about what she is seeing and how she thinks the team should respond.

“I’ve been playing soccer since I was very young ,and I’ve played at a few different positions, so that has helped me to really learn the game and see what’s happening on the field,” said Fitch. “Playing different positions helps me to recognize what a team is doing and how to work through it, and I’ve just gotten to learn what some of the other teams try to go against me and against the team in general.”

That type of soccer knowledge, combined with her outstanding skill set, has made Fitch the latest in a long line of Northwestern girls soccer players who have excelled during their high school career and turned that into an opportunity to play the sport at the next level.