NW Lehigh Soccer
- © Keystone Sports Extra
- Aug 22
- 3 min read
New Tripoli, PA - August 22, 2025: The Northwestern Lehigh High School boys and girls soccer teams, on a quest to defend their 2024 PIAA 2A State Championship run, opened the 2025 season Friday morning at home facing non-league opponents.
The boys squared off against Pennsbury High School, a 4A team out of District I, and were defeated in a close battle 4-3. The girls faced Fleetwood Area High School, a 3A team out of District III, and won easily by the score of 8-0. The win for the girls extended their winning streak, from last season, to twenty-nine in a row.
The Northwestern Lehigh boys got things started early with a penalty kick goal by Logan Mesics at the 34th minute of the first half. Northwestern’s Caelan Stangil was open in front of the goal when he was tripped from behind, leading to Mesics taking the penalty shot.
Pennsbury tied the score at the 12th minute of the first half on a penalty kick of their own by Liam Bobbing. Pennsbury then broke the tie on a long ball goal to the upper left corner by Ryan Mathis with only 3 seconds left in the half. Then, in the 25th minute of second half, Mathis scored his second goal of the game to give the Falcons a 3-1 advantage.
Northwestern did not quit however, and in the 9th minute of the half, Mesics scored on a penalty kick for his second goal. Seconds later, Mesics shined again, this time with a perfect pass to Cole Mertz who scored the goal to tie the game at 3-3.
Pennsbury, however, would break the tie late in the game, when with only five minutes to play, they caught Northwestern not able to get back on defense. Pennsbury’s Duncan Reed scored the goal while being wide-open in front of the goal (4-3).
After the game, Northwestern Head Coach Nate Hunsicker said it was a sloppy game for his team but he was proud of their resolve to come back while being down 3-1. He said that the team can’t afford to put themselves in that position going forward and they have to clean up some of the lapses and be more secure in the back. He finished by saying he has a lot of confidence in this team and said they will improve.
On the girls side, Northwestern, led by junior Sophia Schaffer, shut out Fleetwood in a battle of the Tigers. Schaffer put her team up early, when in the first minute of the game she scored. She then went on to score an additional three goals. She found herself open, heading for the goal, many times and seemed to be able to score at will.
Also scoring goals for Northwestern were Kherington Yezik, Isabella Smith, Amelia Glassberg, and Juliet Snyder.
After the game, Head Coach Jordan Smith said he thought the girls defended really well and played all together. He continued by saying that, hopefully, the win becomes contagious and the team can build off this win. He told the team to enjoy the win but be ready to be tested tomorrow when they travel to Central Columbia High School for another non-league contest.
