For a team whose roster has just three seniors, reaching states would appear to be a pretty good accomplishment.

For Northwestern Lehigh, though, expectations grew over the season as the team showed just how good it was by winning both the Colonial League and District 11 Class 2A championships.

Its play had fans thinking the team could make a run at a third state championship in five seasons, but Wednesday night those hopes came to an end as the Tigers fell to Tulpehocken 2-1 in the first round of the PIAA playoffs at Tiger Stadium.

The Trojans assigned two, and many times three, players to guard Cole Mertz, the program’s all-time leading scorer. Even then, Mertz broke free for some opportunities, but they were all in low-percentage situations with tough angles toward the net.

Tulpehocken, the runner-up from District 3, came out aggressively and looked to work passes inside for shots on goal.

Just over 10 minutes into the game, Leshane Christ was able to break free from a defender and go one-on-one with Northwestern goalie Dean Carl. Christ led Tulpehocken with 27 goals on the season, and was able to get a shot past Carl to put his team up 1-0.

Northwestern seemed to find some cracks in the Tulpehocken defense later in the half and was able to generate four corner kicks, but the Tigers were unable to get anything past junior goalkeeper Landon Hoffert.

“I thought in the first half we outplayed them. We had a handful of good opportunities,” said Northwestern coach Nate Hunsicker.

The intensity of the game increased even more in the second half. There had already been one yellow card given to Tulpehocken in the first half, and with 27:08 left in regulation, Christ was sent off the field for five minutes when he kicked Zach Masenheimer’s foot after a play.

In all, the Trojans collected three yellow cards, and Northwestern received one.

Shortly after Christ returned, he sent a crossing pass in the air that was headed by Van Koch back toward the center of the goal area, where Kevin Gutierrez was able to get a foot on the ball and put it past Carl for a 2-0 lead with 19:21 left to play.

Rather than letting the second goal bury them, Northwestern came right back and just 21 seconds later cut its deficit to one goal. While Mertz was unable to get many good looks, he was able to send a pass inside to Russell DeLong for a goal.

“When they scored the second one, we could have called it a season, but we bounced back, so you have to credit our boys for fighting back. I think that if we could get level at 2-2, we would have been able to come out on top, but it wasn’t meant to be,” said Hunsicker.

Northwestern seemed destined to find a second goal to tie the game as it dominated play from that point on. A corner kick nearly resulted in a goal, but Weston Killar’s shot went just over the goal.

Masenheimer had another opportunity, but Hoffert made a great save on his shot.

In the end, Tulpehocken was able to fight off the Northwestern attack and hang on for a 2-1 win to eliminate the Tigers.

The Trojans move into the quarterfinal round, where they will face Lewisburg, which defeated Lake-Lehman on penalty kicks.

QUITE THE RESUME … Northwestern’s three seniors — Mertz, Carl and Ben Hawk — collected four league championships, four district championships and a state championship in their four seasons. Mertz leaves as the program’s all-time leader in goals, assists and points, finishing his career with 124 goals, 80 assists and 328 points.

Tulpehocken 2, Northwestern 1

Tulpehocken 1 1 — 2

Northwestern 0 1 — 1

Goals: Tulpehocken — Christ 1, Gutierrez 1; Northwestern — DeLong 1. Saves: Tulpehocken — Hoffert 6; Northwestern — Carl 7.

Records: Tulpehocken (17-4-2); Northwestern Lehigh (21-2-2).