{"id":90413,"date":"2025-10-31T13:31:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/?p=90413"},"modified":"2025-10-31T13:32:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:32:11","slug":"tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\/","title":{"rendered":"Tigers Get it Right, Repeat as Colonial League Champions; By Kate Arnold"},"content":{"rendered":"

For most teams, a season following the graduation of eight seniors would have almost certainly been considered a rebuilding year. And maybe, early on, some people thought that\u2019s what the 2025 season would be for head coach Lissa Opolsky\u2019s Northwestern Lehigh Tigers. The Tigers proved those people wrong, upsetting the No. 2 seed Southern Lehigh Spartans in overtime 2-1 to win their second Colonial League Champion in as many years.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t an easy road. Even though the current 2025 fall roster touted another 11 seniors, many of those players lacked the same experience that the 2025 graduates had.<\/p>\n

The team started off their season with a 2-0 loss to Salisbury, who would go on to earn the top seed in the league playoff (only to be knocked out in the second round by Northwestern). They would suffer two additional league losses and two non-conference losses throughout the regular season.<\/p>\n

Coach Opolsky reflected that it took some time to determine the right lineup.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew that we were going to learn some things along the way. Losing tells you a little more about what you need to do,\u201d said Opolsky.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of people that can play a lot of positions. Figuring out the right combination of that is dependent on getting a lot of competitive games.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while they seem to have figured it out, Coach Opolsky shared that she still evaluates each game and each opponent to determine what makes sense for her lineup. Sometimes, that means switching things up.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny given game may give us some different challenges along the road. Depending on who we\u2019re playing, I could call on a different person to play a different position.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, if a little extra fire is needed on offense, she\u2019ll move senior center midfielder Hannah Gober to the forward line and have an underclassman fill her spot in the midfield.<\/p>\n

It would be Gober who would set up the Tiger offense to take home the gold in the Colonial League championship.<\/p>\n

After what was a back and forth, swinging momentum-style game, the Spartans and Tigers found themselves tied 1-1 at the end of regulation. It took a powerful speech from Coach Opolsky and just three minutes into overtime until Northwestern would find the back of the net in the sudden death period.<\/p>\n

On their second attacking penalty corner, Gober received the insert at the top of the circle, skillfully read the Spartan defense and goalkeeper, identified that the keeper\u2019s weight was shifted to one side, and played the ball towards the cage in the opposite direction. That would set up senior Taylor Langley for the game (check that\u2013championship) winning OT goal.<\/p>\n

Fittingly, Langley, who Opolsky called the Tiger\u2019s \u201cengine on the field\u201d, is known for saying she\u2019ll \u201cdo anything to win\u201d.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the season so far, the coach also praised the performances of seniors Amelia Birch and Haley Kerschner<\/a>, as well as junior Bloomsburg-commit Faith Slifer, who has stepped up in many games.<\/p>\n

Northwestern will go on as the No. 1 Seed in the District XI 1A playoff, earning a bye for the first round. The Tigers will take on Palmerton in a second round match up at Northern Lehigh on Monday.<\/p>\n

As is always the case, Opolsky shared, the goal is to earn another trophy. However, like any good coach, she noted that \u201cabove all else\u201d, it\u2019s about playing good hockey.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The views expressed in this blog are<\/span><\/i>\u00a0those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound or any other agency, organization, employer or company.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For most teams, a season following the graduation of eight seniors would have almost certainly been considered a rebuilding year. And maybe, early on, some people thought that\u2019s what the 2025 season would be for head coach Lissa Opolsky\u2019s Northwestern Lehigh Tigers. The Tigers proved those people wrong, upsetting the No. 2 seed Southern Lehigh…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTigers Get it Right, Repeat as Colonial League Champions; By Kate Arnold - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tigers Get it Right, Repeat as Colonial League Champions; By Kate Arnold - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For most teams, a season following the graduation of eight seniors would have almost certainly been considered a rebuilding year. And maybe, early on, some people thought that\u2019s what the 2025 season would be for head coach Lissa Opolsky\u2019s Northwestern Lehigh Tigers. The Tigers proved those people wrong, upsetting the No. 2 seed Southern Lehigh...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-31T13:31:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-31T13:32:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Michael\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Michael\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Michael\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\"},\"headline\":\"Tigers Get it Right, Repeat as Colonial League Champions; By Kate Arnold\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-31T13:31:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-31T13:32:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":617,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tigers Get it Right, Repeat as Colonial League Champions; By Kate Arnold - ATVN\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-31T13:31:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-31T13:32:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/\",\"name\":\"ATVN\",\"description\":\"Local Programming & Astound Digital Cable, Internet & Phone Services\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\",\"name\":\"Chris Michael\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"url\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Chris Michael\"},\"description\":\"Chris handles play-by-play for RCN sports events, including baseball, football & basketball games and produces\\\/hosts the station\u2019s 60-minute live call-in show. Among Chris\u2019s other responsibilities include reporting on local news & sports stories, conducting \u201cTake 5\u201d interviews with community and political leaders, producing commercials, voiceovers and promos; and generating blog entries and videos on the internet. Click here to listen to the weekly Sports Talk podcast.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/author\\\/rcntvchris\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tigers Get it Right, Repeat as Colonial League Champions; By Kate Arnold - ATVN","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tigers Get it Right, Repeat as Colonial League Champions; By Kate Arnold - ATVN","og_description":"For most teams, a season following the graduation of eight seniors would have almost certainly been considered a rebuilding year. And maybe, early on, some people thought that\u2019s what the 2025 season would be for head coach Lissa Opolsky\u2019s Northwestern Lehigh Tigers. The Tigers proved those people wrong, upsetting the No. 2 seed Southern Lehigh...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\/","og_site_name":"ATVN","article_published_time":"2025-10-31T13:31:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-31T13:32:11+00:00","author":"Chris Michael","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris Michael","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\/"},"author":{"name":"Chris Michael","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#\/schema\/person\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a"},"headline":"Tigers Get it Right, Repeat as Colonial League Champions; By Kate Arnold","datePublished":"2025-10-31T13:31:54+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-31T13:32:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\/"},"wordCount":617,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\/","url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\/","name":"Tigers Get it Right, Repeat as Colonial League Champions; By Kate Arnold - ATVN","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-10-31T13:31:54+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-31T13:32:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#\/schema\/person\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/tigers-get-it-right-repeat-as-colonial-league-champions-by-kate-arnold\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/","name":"ATVN","description":"Local Programming & Astound Digital Cable, Internet & Phone Services","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#\/schema\/person\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a","name":"Chris Michael","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"\/atvn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg","url":"\/atvn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg","contentUrl":"\/atvn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg","caption":"Chris Michael"},"description":"Chris handles play-by-play for RCN sports events, including baseball, football & basketball games and produces\/hosts the station\u2019s 60-minute live call-in show. Among Chris\u2019s other responsibilities include reporting on local news & sports stories, conducting \u201cTake 5\u201d interviews with community and political leaders, producing commercials, voiceovers and promos; and generating blog entries and videos on the internet. Click here to listen to the weekly Sports Talk podcast.","url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/author\/rcntvchris\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90413"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90414,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90413\/revisions\/90414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}