In just her second game back after an injury sidelined her for a month, Salisbury's Rylee Donaldson didn't know she would be lining up for the Falcons' most historic free kick in program history.

Locked in a 1-1 game with less than 17 minutes remaining in regulation, the sophomore forward launched a direct kick from 40 yards out. The shot found its way past Northwestern goalkeeper McKenna Amey in a crowded area of the Tigers' right side of the goal to lift Salisbury to the District 11 Class 2A championship game."I saw Caylin [Meikrantz] and Paige [Nicholas] go down," said Donaldson. "They worked hard to get the ball in there. I knew that was within my range if I could just put it in the box. I definitely kicked it a little harder than usual."The victory advanced Salisbury (15-4-3) to Tuesday's title game where it will face top-seeded Pine Grove. The Falcons will go for their first district crown, while the Tigers' season ends at 16-4-1."It was a direct kick and the ball went right through her hands," said Northwestern head coach Kelly Bleam. "In weather conditions like this, that kind of thing happens."Wet field conditions caused the ball to skip on Northern Lehigh's turf all night. It was also difficult to grip at times for both goalkeepers.After a scoreless first 40 minutes, the offense for both teams broke through midway through the second half. It started when Meikrantz cleaned up a rebound and put it past Amey, who had saved Caitlin Hoenig's initial shot.Northwestern responded not even two minutes later. Logan Collins raced down a ball from going out of bounds on the back line, and the junior midfielder found Sara Hathaway for the game-tying tally with 22:52 to play in regulation.While Bleam was pleased with her team's ability to respond with its back against the wall in a pressure-filled situation, a couple of injuries to key players had an impact on its ability to close out those final 23 minutes."I think fatigue had a little bit to do with it," Bleam said. "I do have a few players that haven't practiced since last game due to nagging type injuries. The nagging injuries didn't go away, but the rest made them feel a little bit better for a temporary time period, but unfortunately they weren't able to go much beyond a half."Senior defender Emily Renner left the game due to injury late in the second half. And junior midfielder Jess Williamson played sparingly in the second half, leaving the Tigers at less than full strength.That 1-1 score held for nearly nine minutes until Donaldson ripped that free kick from the 35-yard line on the turf. In going for its first district championship ever, former head coach Mark Allinson, who now solely coaches the Falcon boys, texted assistant coach Victor DeOliveria that Tuesday's girls' win was the most significant in program history."We knew this was our season, definitely," Donaldson said. "At the start of the season we came out strong, and we had a lot more team chemistry on the field than we've had in a while. I think this is the team to get it done."A TALE OF TWO HALVES ... Northwestern outshot Salisbury 7-4 over the first half and clearly had the better opportunities on goal. But the Falcons dominated that category in the second half with 11 shots compared to one for Northwestern.A LITTLE BIT OF DÉJÀ VU? ... After reaching three straight district championship games from 2012-14, including titles in the latter two years, the Northwestern girls have fallen in the semifinals in each of the past two seasons. The Tigers fell to Notre Dame (Green Pond) last year, 2-1, the same final as this year's result.