Confidence and preparedness is guiding Northern through 4A challenges

The Polar Bears have dropped just one game all season and are competing for a District III 4A Championship on Saturday.

Northern was undefeated going into last year’s PIAA District III 3A championship game last season. As the number one overall seed, they cruised through the playoff bracket, outscoring District III playoff opponents 19-2 through their four playoff meetings, setting themselves up well for the state playoffs.

Their season came to a stunning halt in the PIAA quarterfinals in a loss to WPIAL runner-up, Moon. Northern was a front-runner to compete for a state championship before the 2023 season, returning 10 of 11 starters with the exclusion of Sophie Lodovici, now at Anderson University.

“Last year, we wanted to win states so bad,” said Tae Townsend, a junior starter for the Polar Bears. “After Districts, that’s all we were thinking about. It was kind of shocking to lose, because we expected ourselves to win that game. We hold ourselves to that standard.”

When the team lost two games short of a state championship clinch, it was the end of an era of Northern York girls soccer. Or so we thought.