BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Northampton women's soccer team remained unbeaten, rallying from a 3-1 deficit, to tie 5th ranked Brookdale Community College 3-3 on Thursday afternoon at Spartan Field. 

Abby Dempsey (Bangor, PA/Faith Christian ) got the Spartans on the board first with her 7th goal of the season, early in the first half for a 1-0 lead, off an assist from Mikayla Garzillo.  The Jersey Blues, winners of 3 of the last 4 NJCAA Division III National Championships, tied the contest at 1 and eventually took a 2-1 advantage into the locker room at halftime. 

Brookdale struck quickly in the second half to take a commanding 3-1 lead, but the Spartans refused to quit.  Erin Happel (Bangor, PA/Bangor) then scored from 25 yards out off an assist from Megan McCarty (Pen Argyl, PA/Pen Argyl ) to cut the Brookdale lead to 3-2 with 28 minutes remaining in the contest.

Dempsey then scored her 8th goal of the season to tie the game at 3-3 with 23:30 remaining.  The two teams then went scoreless through the remainder of regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods to end in the 3-3 deadlock. 

Melissa Schnappauf (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth) recorded 17 saves in goal, as Brookdale outshot Northampton 23 to 16. 

"I'm happy with the result," commented Head Coach Scott Cullen, "obviously the objective is to win, but after getting down 3-1 to a team of Brookdale's caliber and fighting back to earn a tie, that is a great testament to this team.  I'm proud of how they stayed focused and did not give up.  

The Spartans, now 3-0-1 are off until Tuesday September 12th when they travel to Manor College for a 4:00pm matchup with the Blue Jays. 

Brookdale falls to 1-0-1 with the tie.