Northwestern Lehigh and Salisbury last met in field hockey in last season’s Colonial League championship game, which the Lady Tigers won.

For this season, the two teams are both among the expected challengers to get back to the league final, making their opening game matchup against each other an interesting one.

Salisbury took early control, only to see the Tigers take over. The two teams played an evenly-matched third quarter before Salisbury’s defense stiffened to hold off Northwestern late in the game.

In the end, the Falcons came away with a 2-0 win to open the season with a bit of a message to the rest of the league.

Keep in mind that Northwestern lost some key starters, so the lineup has a different look.

That may have contributed to some miscues with passes not being on the mark, and two nice crossing passes in front of the goal going unanswered.

Northwestern Coach Lissa Opolsky believes there was another reason for some of the struggles.

“I don’t think we necessarily played our best, but Salisbury definitely gets credit. They were on their game today and played a great game,” said Opolsky. “Defensively, they were lower than us all over the field, and we just really didn’t see the passes that were kind of opening at the right time.”

Midway through the first quarter, Kutztown University recruit Gwen DeFazio was able to work through a crowd in front of the goal to give Salisbury a 1-0 lead. The tally also got the Salisbury senior to the 100-point plateau for her career.

Northwestern played much better in the second quarter, and it was the defense that shut down any attempts by the Falcons offense.

Neither team was able to score, and the game went to halftime with the Tigers down by just one goal.

With 8:48 left in the third quarter, Ellie Schneider had a break away on goal for Salisbury and goalie Ryan Smolinsky came out to cut down the angle and collided with Schneider.

Defender Haley Kerschner also became part of the collision and as the three went to the turf, a penalty was called on Northwestern and Salisbury was awarded a penalty shot.

Schneider took the shot and was able to sneak it by Smolinsky to give her team a little breathing room at 2-0.

“As much as you don’t want to lose, sometimes you welcome it because it gives you a little bit more information about your weaknesses. They definitely played well and with a purpose, and we were kind of back on our heels from the start,” noted Opolsky.

Northwestern held an 8-5 edge in corners, but was unable to convert on any of them.

Taylor Langley played well for Northwestern, and controlled much of the attack for the Tigers.

Salisbury played a physical style of play against Langley to limit what she could do to it offensively, but Langley continued to be a thorn in its side throughout the game.

“She was all over the field. She brought the fire that we were lacking with some other players and at certain points, other people turned it on to kind of be level with her, but it just wasn’t consistent,” said Opolsky of the senior attacker.

“She played really well and took a few shots, too.”

RIGHT BACK TO WORK … Northwestern has a day to practice before it gets back on the field again. The Tigers are back on the road at Wilson on Thursday, and then play their first home game Saturday against Palmerton. Wilson downed Lehighton 3-0 on Tuesday, and Palmerton downed Catasauqua 3-2 after an opening 5-0 loss against non-league opponent Northampton.

KEEPING THE BAND TOGETHER … While Northwestern lost six starting seniors, including its two top scorers who combined for 59 goals, Salisbury lost just two seniors — including Lauren Kushma, its leading scorer.

Salisbury 2, Northwestern 0

Northwestern 0 0 0 0 - 0

Salisbury 1 0 1 0 - 2

Goals: Northwestern - None; Salisbury - Gwen DeFazio 1, Ellie Schneider 1; Assists: Northwestern - None; Salisbury - None.

Records: Northwestern (0-1; 0-1 CL); Salisbury (1-0; 1-0 CL).