After Northwestern edged Salisbury during the regular season, both coaches talked about the playoff atmosphere of the game and predicted they would meet again in the postseason.

They were right.

The two teams met Tuesday night at Northern Lehigh High School in the Colonial League semifinals, and the outcome was identical.

Northwestern duplicated its 2-1 regular season victory to earn a spot in Thursday’s CL title game.

“It’s always a very tough game against Salisbury,” said Tiger coach Kelly Bleam. “(Salisbury coach) Rick (Babyak) does a great job with them, and they have a lot of talented players. We were all at the quarterfinal game between Saucon Valley and Salisbury on Saturday, and when Salisbury won, we all knew we were in for a battle.”

Northwestern (17-2-0) put early pressure on the Falcon’s defense and broke through with the first goal of the game in the sixth minute when Hallie Bleam put a shot on goal that was blocked by Salisbury goalkeeper Lilly Schimeneck. The ball rolled to a Salisbury defender, whose attempted clearance bounced sharply off Sophia Motolese and past Schimeneck to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

The two teams took turns having opportunities to score, and with 25:12 left in the first half, Salisbury’s Aaliyah M’Bai fed a perfect ball to Quinn Wittman, who put the shot past Naomi Glassberg to tie the game at 1-1.

Northwestern kept increasing the pressure, but the Salisbury (14-6-0) defense played well, with Olivia Hoeing making a nice save to clear a ball from the mouth of the goal. Just a few minutes later, the defense kept Olivia Motolese from getting a clean look, and her shot went over the crossbar.

The second half started much like most of the first half played out, with both teams putting pressure on the opposing goalkeeper. Schimeneck went down making a save that bounced off of her, but the rebound was played wide right of the goal by Northwestern. Salisbury responded quickly and got the ball to Hoeing, who took a shot that sailed over the crossbar.

With 26:28 left in regulation, the Salisbury defense came out to make a play on Kayla Bardonner, who passed off to Kylie Zentz. With Schimeneck out of position, Zentz scored the go-ahead goal for the Tigers.

“I made a diagonal run, and Kayla Bardonner really made a nice play on that ball and got it over to me,” said Zentz. “The defense was up, and I just had to beat the goalie.”

The goal wound up being the game-winner for Northwestern, as its defense handled things the rest of the way.

“Kylie made a great play on that ball,” said Bleam. “We had a lot of girls working hard for us tonight. Jenna Lowthert played really well, and Kayla Bardonner also played really well. We need girls to step up in games like this, and they all did a fantastic job and played really hard for us.”

FAMILIAR FACES ... Northwestern will now play for the Colonial League championship against Southern Lehigh (13-4-2), which defeated Moravian Academy (15-4-0) in the other semifinal game. The championship will be played Thursday night at Salisbury High School. Northwestern Lehigh last won the Colonial League championship in 2014, with Southern Lehigh winning the title every season since then.

ONE MORE TIME? ... Don’t count out a third meeting between Northwestern and Salisbury. The two teams could meet again in districts, which begin next week.

PUTTING THE BALL ON GOAL ... While the game was evenly matched on the field, Northwestern held a distinct advantage in shots on goal. The Tigers put up 11 shots, while the Falcons were able to manage just three shots on goal. Schimeneck made some athletic saves to keep the game as close as it was.

SHORT-HANDED ... The Tigers were without two players – one a starter and the other a backup – for the entire second half after they left the field at intermission. Northwestern leaned on other players to fill in the gaps and help them advance to the final.