When two players reach career milestones in the same game – plus the team gets a win – that’s a good night.

Tuesday night was a win-win for the Northwestern Lehigh girls lacrosse program, as it downed Liberty 15-8 with juniors Olivia Fagan and Ashley Yacynych both reaching impressive milestones in their varsity careers.

Fagan, who dominated draws in the win, recorded the 200th draw control of her high school career and won the first five draws of the night to reach the milestone. Overall, Northwestern won the battle in draws by a 17-9 mark, with Fagan’s milestone coming in the third quarter.

“It actually doesn’t feel real yet,” said Fagan of her accomplishment, which moves her ahead of Olivia Costa in that department. “Olivia Costa was one of the great players here at Northwestern, and I’m so proud of her for what she did, and she was a great teammate, but now I have a milestone to celebrate.”

Northwestern controlled the opening draw and moved toward the goal, where the Tigers moved the ball around looking for just the right shot. It would be Fagan who took a pass from freshman Caliana Colistra, made her move and put a shot past goalie Erika Broesicke for a quick 1-0 lead. The second goal for the Tigers came just two minutes later, when Ella Schmidt took a forehand shot for her first goal of the night.

“Our passing tonight was great, and that was huge for us,” said Northwestern coach Pam Colistra. “They really worked the ball around, and we saw where we could take the cuts, call the plays, and we were able to capitalize on them.”

Liberty answered each of Northwestern’s first two goals to keep the game tied with 8:00 left in the opening quarter.

After the Hurricanes pulled even for the second time, the Tigers responded quickly. Freshman midfielder Madelyn Lagowy attacked the cage and scored from point-blank range to give Northwestern a 3-2 lead.

As if to halt the back-and-forth scoring, Yacynych made a strong save with 7:20 left in the quarter — her 200th career stop.

“I’m glad first of all that we won this game,” said Yacynych. “It’s a testament to the defense and the attack, and especially Liv (Fagan) getting the draw controls. I’m really proud of how we played tonight in every part of the game. It feels just awesome that I could reach the 200 saves mark and that we won.”

Ella Collins and Colistra closed out the first-quarter scoring for Northwestern, as the Tigers went into the break with a 5-2 lead.

With all of the first quarter’s scoring coming from juniors and freshmen, Skyler Dion received a pass from Collins and put the sophomore class on the board when she scored with 10:10 left in the second quarter, putting the Tigers up 6-2.

The defenses took over for much of the second quarter, as the score remained unchanged until the Hurricanes got a goal from Ellis Corr with 4:25 left to play in the period. With just 0:01 left before halftime, Collins picked up her second goal of the night, with Fagan picking up the assist this time around.

The Tigers blew the game open early in the third quarter, with goals from Fagan, Lagowy and Amanda Breidinger building a 10-3 lead with 7:41 remaining.

Liberty answered with a goal from Olivia Romero, but Mykaela Yanders pushed Northwestern’s advantage to 11-4.

And just as Collins scored in the final second of the second quarter, Colistra struck in the closing seconds of the third to give the Tigers a 12-4 edge.

Collins, Fagan, and Colistra all scored their third goal of the night in the final quarter to make it 15-4 before Liberty looked to make a comeback.

The Hurricanes got four unanswered goals, but got no closer than 15-8 when time ran out.

BONDING OVER BAGELS ... The team ate some bagels together prior to the game as a team bonding activity. The younger players have credited the seniors with creating a good atmosphere, and helping them adjust to playing varsity lacrosse. “I think the bond we have on this team is great. We get along well, and it was fun to hang out and relax before the game. I think we all feel really bonded this season, and that’s important,” said Yacynych.

A CENTRAL FOCUS ... Next up for the Tigers is Allentown Central Catholic. The Vikettes have started 1-2, but are generally one of the stronger teams in the 2A classification. Northwestern downed Central 10-8 in last year’s District 11 2A semifinals to move into its first finals appearance in the program’s history.