Northwestern Lehigh’s offense doesn’t appear to be in midseason form just yet. Even though it’s not midseason, the Tigers usually come out firing. A 10-1 win over Jim Thorpe, though, is the lone standout that saw the team do something it hasn’t done in any of its four other games this season: score more than four goals.

The defense has been so strong that the Tigers can take what they get from their offense for now and still come out with a 5-0-0 record to start the year. On Saturday, Northwestern traveled to play Notre Dame-Green Pond and came away with a 2-0 win, which has been very much on script for games against the Crusaders, with the Tigers having won their last nine against them.

Through the first half of play, neither team was able to build an advantage on the scoreboard, and the game went to halftime scoreless. As usually happens, though, the Tigers made some adjustments, and the second half took on a more familiar theme for Northwestern.

Senior Cole Mertz scored his 12th goal of the season, and added an assist on a goal by junior Weston Killar as the Tigers picked up the go-ahead goal and then added some insurance to make it 2-0.

“Cole has been a big part of our offense, and he’s really stepping up this season,” said coach Nate Hunsicker. “He knows there is some pressure on him because we have had to change things up front, but he’s used to that because every year you have to have some changes based on who you have to go to.”

Mertz now has 80 goals and 65 assists in 83 varsity games.

Until Saturday, no other player on the roster had more than one goal. Killar broke that string and scored his second goal while also adding an assist. The junior midfielder is getting a chance to take on a higher profile with the team this season, and is taking advantage of it with two goals and two assists in five games.

“There are opportunities for guys to step up, and Weston is doing a good job for us this season. He keeps improving and he has good instincts,” said Hunsicker.

Outside of the 10-goal outburst against Jim Thorpe, Northwestern has put up a total of 11 goals in its other four games. The key has been a defense that has allowed just two goals all season while putting together three shutouts.

“It starts with Dean (goalie Dean Carl), because he has really taken charge back there and works well with the guys in front of him,” Hunsicker noted.

“All of the guys back there work well together and have done a good job for us.”

Northwestern Lehigh has probably the youngest roster Hunsicker has had to work with in his time with the team, so starting 5-0-0 while getting players to develop and get on the same page with each other has been important.

“We had time in the summer league to start pulling things together and I think we’ll be a lot better at the end of the season than we are now; certainly on offense and possibly defensively too,” said Hunsicker.