Earlier this week, Northwestern head coach Kelly Bleam had a conversation with her team about how to handle misfortune.

The discussion was a timely one for Bleam's Lady Tigers, who suffered a loss to Southern Lehigh in the Colonial League title game just last Thursday, snapping a two-year run.If Thursday's quarterfinal round game was a test, Bleam's squad passed with flying colors.Despite losing its starting goalie and a key defender in the first half and trailing by two goals with under eight minutes to play, Northwestern found a way to pull through, topping Allentown Central Catholic 4-3 in a game that was decided by a second round of penalty kicks."It says a lot about them," said Bleam. "Just the other day, we had a conversation about being resilient and the need for resiliency in championship tournaments, tournaments that are the biggest deal in the world. Sometimes that's more important than anything, and the girls demonstrated that tonight. They truly did believe in that."And they had to.Junior keeper Hannah Gough was thrust into action at the end of the first half when starter McKenna Amey was injured.The play resulted in a goal for Tyra Mitchel and a 2-1 lead for the fifth-seeded Vikettes (10-8-1), and also took Amey out for the remainder of the game.After allowing a goal to Anna Younger early in the second half - Younger's second of the game - Gough provided the stability in net the fourth-seeded Lady Tigers (13-4) needed to make a comeback and erase the 3-1 deficit.The rally was led by familiar faces, as Lydia Danner recorded her second tally with 7:48 to play, and Abigail Chisdak, who assisted Danner's first goal, found the back of the net with 3:42 left to tie the score at 3-3.Following two scoreless 15 minute overtime periods, Gough proved her mettle when the game went to penalty kicks."It was a roller coaster. But I just stayed confident," said Gough. "I'm confident in my team, and I've been confident in what we've been doing all season."It showed, as Gough stopped four of the five shots she faced in the first round, as did ACC keeper April Foley, sending the game into a second round of PK's.With daylight fading and tension rising, Northwestern's Jess Williamson stepped up first and drilled her shot into the back of the net.Christina Marinos had a chance to keep the duel going, but the junior hit the top crossbar, ending the game and sending N'western to the semifinals.Bleam is eager to see what's next for her team."We're looking forward to playing (No. 8 seed) Notre Dame on Tuesday, since we lost to them in the regular season. It's always exciting to see if we can get on the field and fix the errors we made the first time and can hopefully create a different outcome on Tuesday night."BITTERSWEET.… In addition to Amey, the Tigers also lost senior defender Haley Hebelka, who was celebrating a birthday, in the first half of Friday's game. "She played the first 10 minutes and did not return," said Bleam. "She's very solid back there, so replacing her was very challenging."CARDED… The pressure-packed environment started to show itself in the second half, as Central's Bridget Stein (32:24) and Kayla Cadden (15:22) both received yellow cards and were sent off for five minutes apiece for their fouls.