Freshman lifts Little Tiger girls with three goals
By: Justin Feil
Princeton High girls’ soccer coach Greg Hand liked the difference he saw in Zoe Sarnak’s mindset against Hopewell Valley.
"From the start, we’ve seen her more as a playmaker," he said of the freshman. "She’s always aware of where other kids are on the field. She can create time in the field. She hasn’t shown as much interest in taking it to the goal. This was a nice adjustment. She seemed very goal-minded."
Maybe it’s something she should focus on all the time. Sarnak finished with all three PHS goals in a 3-1 win over Hopewell Valley at Valley Road field. The win improved the Little Tigers to 11-1-1 overall, and three points ahead of the Bulldogs in the Colonial Valley Conference Valley Division race.
"The day before we were talking about it," Sarnak said. "We knew we had to win all our games and split with Hopewell at least. We knew what it meant. It was a big deal."
PHS was fresh off its first loss of the season, a 3-0 shutout at the hands of CVC Colonial Division leading Steinert on Wednesday, but showed few ill effects as they focused quickly on the task at hand.
"It wasn’t so much a reaction to Steinert, it really stood by itself," Hand said. "We knew we had a real tough week coming. Steinert was a great team and they played us very well. We couldn’t find a way to score against them.
"The Hopewell game was going to be special for us because if we could win the remainder of our games including getting a split with Hopewell, we knew we could get a Valley Division title. There was a sense of urgency in trying to get it now rather than later."
Friday, Princeton didn’t have the same trouble scoring as it did against Steinert as three perfect feeds set up Sarnak’s hat trick. Danielle DiMeglio served the first assist, Cora Barros and Lisa Hayes combined on the second assist, and Clare Marchetta set up Sarnak’s third goal and give PHS a 3-0 lead before Hopewell scored late in the game.
"It wasn’t like I was coming off the dribble looking to shoot," Sarnak said. "One of our biggest plays for scoring is taking it wide and cutting it back for crosses. That’s basically how all three goals were scored. People have to be in the middle to shoot. The fact it happened three times happened to be lucky. They were all really good crosses."
The hat trick upped Sarnak’s season total to nine goals to go with two assists. She leads the Little Tigers in scoring and has been a welcome surprise.
"I had no idea what varsity would be like," Sarnak said. "It was a big surprise, but a good one. It’s a very similar team to last year. We just have worked hard and things have worked out for us this year. I was just happy to make the team. Then I worked as hard as I could to play as much as I could."
She’s made it hard for Hand to take her out of games. While Sarnak was on the receiving end of Friday’s centering passes, he’s enjoyed seeing that it isn’t just one player that the Little Tigers have depended on for goals.
"Zoe just found a way to be open throughout the game," Hand said. "She almost had another goal. In addition to that, I thought the kids have been playing balls into the dangerous area in front of the goal with a lot more focus. There’s a difference between a ball played into the center for anyone to get and one sent toward a particular attacker. All the kids that serve the box are improving for us. Zoe was the beneficiary of some good serves and she finished."
It’s one of the keys to Princeton’s fast start. The Little Tigers are looking to maintain their strong play through the second half of the season and into the state tournament.
"We’re controlling the play," Sarnak said. "That’s important. One of the keys has been not playing anyone else’s game, playing ours. The other key is our defense. It’s been so good. If they can’t score goals on you, you’re going to win some games. You don’t have to worry about scoring four or five to win it. Plus, with a good defense, you get the ball back that many more times."
While Sarnak and the offense played a big role in giving PHS the lead Friday, it was the defense and goalkeeper Samantha Doyle who buckled down in the second half when Hopewell mounted a rally.
"I think we were very much on our game, especially in the first half," Hand said. "Then we had to fight real hard the last 40 minutes when Hopewell was trying to get back into it. I think it was a real fine game."
One that will be repeated at least once more. The teams meet again Oct. 30 in Hopewell. They could also face each other in the Central Jersey Group III tournament after the Bulldogs moved up this season.
"As long as we stay alive in the tournament, Hopewell’s either going to be in our bracket or in the other one," Hand said. "I’d love to see us get to the finals. We’d either have to go through them or meet them in the finals. And the same’s true for Lawrence."
"We have to know on any given day, if we don’t play our best, we can lose," Sarnak said. "The Steinert game helped get us motivated. It’s a reminder you can’t float through the season. You have to work hard."