Tigers blank Blue Mtn. to reach D-11 final

There were no tricks for the Northwestern boys soccer team on Tuesday night.

But the treat the Tigers bagged was a 2-0 win over top-seed Blue Mountain 2-0 in the District 11 Class 3A semifinals.

After seeing a three-year run as district champs end last season, Northwestern is hungry to not leave empty-handed this time.

“We’re thrilled to be back in the district final,” said Jason Blaine. “We were there last year; we’ve been there a few years in a row now. But last year was disappointing, didn’t go the way we wanted.

“We’re hungry, that’s the best way to describe it. The whole team is ready to give everything, and we know what we want on Thursday.”

The fourth-seeded Tigers will play No. 2 seed Southern Lehigh Thursday at a site and time to be determined.

“All in all, at the end of the day, it’s playoff time, it’s survive and advance and a win’s a win, whether it’s pretty or a little bit of a gritty, hard-working win, which is how I would characterize today’s victory,” said Northwestern head coach Nathan Hunsicker. “We’re moving on to the championship game, and we’re looking forward to being back there, and hopefully reclaiming some hardware.”

Blaine opened the scoring for the Tigers, ripping a shot into the back of the net with 27:27 to play in the first half. The goal came on a rebound after a free kick.

“Scoring first is so important. It’s huge, obviously,” said Blaine. “We had been pounding at the door for a while with lots of shots, especially in that first half. It seemed like it was coming, but we just needed the finishing edge.

“When it finally came, we got a free kick in a good spot. We’ve been dangerous on set pieces this year. I saw Luke Bryan getting ready to tee it up, and he can place the ball where he wants it, so he went with the low driven shot, and it’s a staple of my game; I was there to crash, and was there for the rebound and it worked out.”

While the Tigers might have liked the breakthrough to come a bit sooner, they showed an ability to cash in when they needed to against the Eagles.

“I refer to those as dirty goals, but come playoff time, those are important goals,” said Hunsicker. “They all count the same. Throughout the entire first half, and even the first 10 or 15 minutes of the second half, we thought we had a ton of really quality chances, a lot of them off of set pieces, especially those throw ins.

“We have Ryan Baker, he just throws a missile in, and anything 25 yards and in is a dangerous play for us. We had countless opportunities with balls through the box, and nobody got a touch on it in any way, shape, or form, and that’s frustrating sitting on the sidelines and not being able to do anything about it yourself. But we stressed, come Thursday, no matter who we play, the quantity and the quality of those opportunities aren’t going to be there. So we have to cash in when we have them.”

Ryan Baker added the Tigers’ second goal with 12:53 to play in the second half.

“We just have to keep working hard, running to every ball, making our tackles and putting away our shots,” said Baker.

And that was the message Hunsicker delivered to his team postgame.

“It’s huge, especially coming on the heels of a little bit of a disappointing league tournament,” Hunsicker said of a 1-0 loss to Moravian Academy in the Colonial League semifinals almost two weeks ago. “Last year, we had a little bit of a disappointing district tournament falling short there.

“If nothing else, it’s an opportunity for these guys to redeem themselves, and hopefully come away with a gold, just in a different tournament.”

LAST TIME … Northwestern and Southern Lehigh played a scoreless tie on Sept. 17. The Tigers ripped off seven straight wins after that match, outscoring opponents 36-3, before closing out the regular season with a scoreless tie against Notre Dame.