Winning Colonial League championships has become familiar territory for Northwestern Lehigh’s boys soccer program.

But the Tigers aren’t taking another opportunity for granted.

Top-seeded Northwestern moved one step closer to its fourth consecutive league title Monday night, overcoming a physical Notre Dame-Green Pond squad for a 3-1 victory in the Colonial League semifinals at Lehighton.

“I think they tried to get us off our game a little bit, but we just kind of talk about keeping (an) even keel,” Northwestern head coach Nate Hunsicker said. “There’s going to be highs and lows throughout the course of an 80-minute match. Just stay level headed, play our game, and I thought we did a fantastic job at that.”

With three straight league championships already to their credit, the Tigers have become a team opponents are eager to knock off. The attention — from opposing players and fans alike — is something Northwestern has learned to embrace.

“Honestly, the trash talk really fuels me, especially when the fans are yelling,” said Cole Mertz. “It really gets me going, and I think I did pretty well tonight to silence them.”

The senior striker backed up those words with two second-half goals, adding to his program-record career total despite drawing plenty of attention from Notre Dame’s defense.

“They’re definitely up for it against us,” Mertz said. “A lot of teams are around here. So we just got to keep that energy against everyone, especially when they’re man marking me around there bringing (up to) four guys.”

Despite the fourth-seeded Crusaders’ physical play, Northwestern controlled possession and generated the majority of the scoring opportunities throughout the first half.

The Tigers finally broke through midway through the period when Mertz set up Weston Killar off a corner kick for a 1-0 lead.

Northwestern carried that advantage into halftime and continued to dictate play after the break.

Mertz doubled the lead just 3:31 into the second half, finishing an impressive passing sequence set up by Zach Massenheimer.

About 17 minutes later, Massenheimer collected his second assist when he sent Mertz in alone for another goal, extending the Tigers’ advantage to 3-0.

Northwestern also limited Notre Dame’s opportunities at the other end, preventing the Crusaders from generating much of a sustained attack.

Liam Behrens finally broke through for Notre Dame with 3:54 remaining, scoring on a free kick to spoil goalkeeper Dean Carl’s shutout bid.

But the Tigers closed out the victory without allowing the Crusaders to get any closer.

Northwestern finished with a 17-6 advantage in shots and a 5-2 edge in corner kicks. Notre Dame goalkeeper Cooper Simon made 14 saves, while Carl finished with five.

The victory sends Northwestern back to the Colonial League championship game, where it will face Southern Lehigh on Saturday at Catasauqua.

While competing for league, district and state titles has become an annual expectation for the Tigers, Hunsicker has been particularly impressed with how this year’s relatively young team has handled that pressure.

“This is the youngest team that I’ve ever put on a field game in and game out starting anywhere from three to four freshmen (and) three sophomores most of the time,” he said. “These kids are battle tested now, and they’re playing great soccer, and they know the expectation, and intrinsically, it puts a lot of pressure on them. We’re not trying to do that, but they know the standard here, and they want to reach that high bar and they don’t want to let everybody down.”

TITLE TEST … Northwestern (17-1-2) will face Southern Lehigh in Saturday’s Colonial League championship game at Catasauqua. The Spartans advanced with a 1-0 semifinal victory over Moravian Academy.

Northwestern 3,

Notre Dame-GP 1

Notre Dame-GP 0 1 — 1

Northwestern 1 2 — 3

Goals: Notre Dame-GP — Liam Behrens 1; Northwestern — Cole Mertz 2, Weston Killar 1. Assists: Northwestern — Zach Massenheimer 2, Cole Mertz 1. Saves: Notre Dame-GP — Cooper Simon 14; Northwestern — Dean Carl 5. Shots: Notre Dame-GP 6, Northwestern 17. Corner kicks: Notre Dame-GP 2, Northwestern 5.

Records: Notre Dame-GP 11-5-4 (9-4-3 CL); Northwestern 17-1-2 (15-0-1 CL).