BOYS SOCCER
By:Matt Nalbone
The Hopewell Valley boys soccer team played two of its oldest rivals last week when they squared off against cross-town foe Pennington School and Lawrence.
The results were positive as they won both contests but not before some tense moments.
In a game that head coach Tony Suozzo called "far from easy," Hopewell shut out Pennington, 6-0. Joe Bonacci and Andrew Gavin led the way, each of them scoring twice, and Matt Katz and Justin Hall each tallied once for the Bulldogs.
Jim Peters, Tom Goodban, Andre Miguel, Emmerik Leighten, Hall, and Katz each picked up an assist in a very balanced scoring attack for Hopewell.
"We did some good things and scored some pretty goals," Suozzo said.
The Bulldogs came out strong in this one and held a 4-0 advantage at halftime. Joey Hartman and Emeka Obgonna split time in goal, with Hartman making eight stops and Obgonna one. Peters did his usual stellar job of shutting down the other teams best scorer as he gave Pennington’s Bret Reader nothing all day.
Monday in Lawrence was the time and place for another classic battle between two long-time rivals in the CVC.
Hopewell (3-0-1) found themselves down, 3-1, with only 16 minutes left in the game. Katz capped off the comeback, scoring the game-tying goal with just under six minutes left, even though he was covered closely all day. Junior Steve Berei then came up big as he scored in both 10-minute overtimes to give Hopewell a 5-3 victory.
Justin Gregory and Hall scored the other two goals while Berei and Gregory had two assists. Katz picked up the other assist of the game.
"I am very proud of the kids," Suozzo said. "They didn’t quit as we stuck to our gameplan and spread out the field and moved the ball well. It just took a little time."
Hopewell outshot their opponents, 27-16, but just didn’t finish well until the end of the game and overtime.
"Lawrence was big and strong, with at least three guys over 6-foot," Suozzo said. "The game was going to be a good test for us to see where we were at."
Hartman was solid in goal making six saves, including a tough one in overtime as he tipped a hard shot over the crossbar.
Peters drew high praise from his coach as he shut down All-CVC player Pat Haggerty.
"(Peters) never seems to get tired, he played the entire game and was just as fresh at the end as he was in the beginning," Suozzo said. "He denies the ball well and just doesn’t lose the man."
Hopewell tried to continue its winning ways as they played West Windsor-Plainsboro North Wednesday and will play South Friday night at Mercer County Park.
"Both of them are strong," Suozzo said. "I hope we can come back emotionally from this big win."