Clearly, Northern Lehigh deserved better.

The upset-hungry Bulldog girls soccer team pushed favorite Moravian Academy to the limit on Tuesday in a District 11 Class 1A semifinal game.

But for the third time this season, the Lions managed to defeat Northern Lehigh - although this one was even closer than the earlier two.

Senior midfielder Chloe Oudin put her foot into a kick from 20 yards out early in the second half for the game’s only goal as Moravian Academy escaped with a 1-0 victory.

It was all the Lions needed as their defense and freshman goalkeeper Addie Etter made it stand up.

The victory sends Moravian into Thursday’s championship match against Schuylkill Haven.

“It is so difficult to beat a team three times - and a quality team at that,” said Moravian Academy coach Colleen Tohey.

“I’ll tell you we played our hearts out. We deserved so much more,” said Northern Lehigh coach Jason Reinhard. “I’m so proud of these young ladies. We came in here with all the confidence … I really felt we were the better team. I knew we were up to the challenge.”

No doubt about that.

While Moravian Academy was pinching out front on defense - trying to cut down any offense the Bulldogs tried to muster - it nearly cost them an early first-half goal as Northern Lehigh was pushing hard with its offense.

Even though Northern Lehigh had but two shots on goal, it had three corner kicks in the first 40 minutes - equaling that of Moravian. There was 8:25 to play in the half when Northern Lehigh made a rush and a hard charge at Moravian’s net, but it came up short.

“We played them dead-even,” pointed out Reinhard. “We knew how good they were. But we played our hearts out. We had a couple of chances that didn’t go our way. Had we scored early, it would have been a different game.”

One of those other chances came late in the first half as the Bulldogs were scrambling right in the middle of Moravian’s goalkeeper, but a shot soared over the net. Another came with just 3:30 to go in the half when a header just missed, giving the Bulldogs the lead.

The action really got fast and furious as time was dwindling down late in the game and the Lions were trying to protect their one-goal lead.

There was less than three minutes on the clock when Northern Lehigh created two of its best opportunities of the night. Within the span of seconds, the Bulldogs got off a pair of shots from near point blank range - the second one by Jayden Fischer came inches away from a goal.

Reinhard wasn’t so sure that it didn’t go in.

“Our girls said (Fischer) did score, but there was a no call,” said the Northern Lehigh coach.

Not only was that the best chance for the Bulldogs to score, but it was also the last chance, as Moravian Academy held on for the win.

“Our expectations coming in here were that if we really played well, we could beat this team,” Reinhard said. “I think we proved that we are every bit the team they are.”

EARLIER RESULTS ...

Moravian Academy beat the Bulldogs 4-0 during the regular season, and 3-1 in the Colonial League quarterfinals just over a week ago.

KICKING AWAY

… Moravian had the better of it in shots on goal and in corners, as it held an 8-5 advantage in both.

KEEPERS SUPERB

… Both goalkeepers were outstanding as Northern Lehigh’s Dakotah Barthold made seven saves, while MA’s Etter had four.

UNDER WRAPS

… Reinhard was pleased the way his defense marked Moravian midfielder Oudin. “She’s a great player, and our team did a great job in defending her.”