By: Bobby Nuse
Greg Hand has a lot to like about his Princeton High girls’ soccer team this year.
In three games, all wins, the Little Tigers have shown an ability to score goals. But more importantly, they’ve shown a willingness to stop opponents from scoring goals.
"I think the kids are playing a real tenacious defense," said Hand, whose team improved to 3-0 with a 3-0 win over Lawrence Wednesday at Valley Road Field. "They have a great attitude defensively. We’ve always had a good approach to defense, but now it has become part of what we want to do.
"We play defense as well as we attack. The kids have really done a good job."
In three games the Little Tigers have allowed just one goal, which came off a corner kick in their season-opening win over Nottingham. Since that game they’ve posted back-to-back shutouts over Allentown and Lawrence.
Meanwhile, the offense has managed to score 10 goals in three games, while still looking to hit its stride.
"We’re not finishing the way we need to be able to finish," Hand said. "So far it hasn’t hurt us. We’ve gotten some balls in the box and we haven’t been able to put the ball on goal. We need to improve in that area."
With the way Princeton has played defense so far this season, the Little Tigers appear to have the luxury of being able to spend some time working on their offense. The play of the defense in front of goalkeeper Samantha Doyle has been outstanding.
Cranbury’s Val Davison, who played stopper last year, has moved back to sweeper. Sarajohn Kerins, who spent most of her time in the midfield last year, has moved back to stopper. And Danielle Dimeglio and Amy Leedham have both played well as outside backs.
"We’ve just made a commitment to working hard on defense," said Hand, whose team will play at Hightstown today as it looks to go to 4-0. "Everyone is taking care of their individual responsibilities and shown they’re willing to do what we need to do in order to play well in the back.
"We’ve moved some people around and that has enabled us to move Kia (Anderson) into the midfield. And we’ve put a freshman, Zoe Sarnak, right into the middle and she has done a very good job."
In the win over Lawrence, Princeton received a first-half goal from Christina Gutokwski, as well as goals in the second half from Anderson and Dana Barros. Overall, both on offense and defense, it’s been a huge team effort for the Little Tigers.
"There is not a lot of ego evident on this team," Hand said. "The kids respect each other and they work very well together. We have some older kids and a lot of younger kids, and they all work very well together."
They’ve certainly worked well enough to get the Little Tigers off to a solid start this season.
"The way the season opens up for us, with this set of four games, Hightstown is a big game for us," Hand said. "They beat us with one second left in the game last year after we had played what we felt was a pretty even game the whole way. They’re a team that always seems to be at the same level as we are. We have quite a rivalry that has developed and this will be an interesting game for us."

