Even though Northwestern had shut out Northern Lehigh in all three of their previous meetings this season, coach Lissa Opolsky wasn’t taking any chances.

The two teams met for a fourth time Monday night at Palmerton High School in the District 11 Class 1A field hockey semifinals, and Opolsky changed things up a little.

The result was an early goal and another shutout in the Tigers’ 4-0 victory that sent them back to the district championship game.

Senior Riley Stoudt moved from her usual right midfield position to center forward for the night. Less than two minutes into the game, Stoudt scored Northwestern’s first goal.

The plan worked perfectly as Stoudt put a shot past Bulldogs goalie Madilyn Husack for a 1-0 lead.

“I was really happy about that one,” Stoudt said. “It was definitely different for me. A whole part of our practice was me not running to the ball and staying where I was so when they hit at us I could intercept and go right into the circle. That’s exactly what happened, and it shows that when you prepare for a game you get great results.”

It didn’t hurt that Stoudt blasted her shot, giving Husack little time to react, let alone make a save.

Northwestern had a pair of corner opportunities in the first quarter that didn’t work out. On one, the pass to Evelyn Alboucq came too slowly, giving the defense a chance to shut down the play. Another skipped over Alboucq’s stick.

In the second quarter, Northwestern appeared to score off another corner, but officials waved off the goal to keep it a one-goal game.

As time began to run down in the quarter, Alboucq took a pass 20 feet in front of the goal and made a quick spin move to put the ball into the back of the cage for a 2-0 lead.

While the offense was doing its part, Northwestern’s defense was focused on securing a fourth straight shutout against Northern Lehigh.

Goalie Charlotte Gober prepared to make stops as the Bulldogs moved downfield, but passes were often intercepted and shots were stopped by the defense before the ball even reached her.

“We fall away from them because they like to hit the ball up the field, so we give them a little bit of extra space, knowing that they’re not going to really try to pass around us,” Opolsky said. “They just look to go through us, so we have a little bit more reaction time and are able to intercept a lot of those passes.”

Much like the decision to move Stoudt to center forward, the defensive strategy worked.

Gober finished with three saves as Northern Lehigh generated more offensive pressure in the second half. The Tigers also contained the Bulldogs’ two leading scorers, seniors McKenzie Chruscial and Ada Probenski, limiting their opportunities.

“We always come in with a plan from watching film in the coach’s room,” defender Rebekah Gottlieb said. “We’re anticipating their next move, and we expected them to switch things up a little and we adapted to that. I feel like that allowed us to set back on our press, intercept the ball, and just do what we do best.”

With Gober and the defenders in front of her frustrating the Northern Lehigh offense, Northwestern added two more goals, one in each of the final two quarters.

Julia Farber made an excellent play on the ball and sent a quick pass to Ella Schmidt, who had worked into position directly in front of the goal and put the shot away for a 3-0 lead.

With 7:04 remaining, McKenna Church was also in the right spot when she collected a rebound off Husack and sent it into the goal for her seventh tally of the season.

KUDOS TO THE DOGS … In her third season as the Bulldogs’ coach, Allison Chruscial has led a significant turnaround at Northern Lehigh. After finishing 1-17 in 2024 and 2-16 last season, the Bulldogs closed this season at 10-10 with appearances in both the league and district playoffs. The challenge next season will be replacing Chruscial and Probenski, who combined for 24 of the team’s 33 goals this season. Northern Lehigh also loses senior defenders Andi Szwast, Gracie Frederick and Fiona Jones, along with goalie Husack, to graduation.

LONG MEMORIES … Pen Argyl defeated Lehighton 2-1 in the other semifinal to set up a meeting between the Tigers and Green Knights in Thursday’s Class 1A title game at Whitehall. While Northwestern and Northern Lehigh met four times this season, Northwestern and Pen Argyl met just once, nearly two months ago. The Green Knights won that matchup 1-0, and the Tigers will look to avenge the early-season loss.

Northwestern 4, No. Lehigh 0

Northern Lehigh 0 0 0 0 - 0

Northwestern 1 1 1 1 - 4

Goals: Northwestern - Riley Stoudt, Evelyn Alboucq, Ella Schmidt, McKenna Church. Saves: Northern Lehigh - Madilyn Husack 2; Northwestern - Charlotte Gober 3.

Records: Northern Lehigh (10-10); Northwestern (14-6-1).