Hinkel played lead role for Panthers
By: Justin Feil
The Lauren Hinkel that Mercer County and New Jersey prep opponents see in Princeton Day School blue and white is not the same one as the Lauren Hinkel who suits up for the Coppa FC Force club team in Philadelphia.
Hinkel, one of the most prolific scorers in the state for the Panthers, is a defender for the Force. You wouldn’t know it by the way she creates and finishes at the offensive end for PDS.
"I really like playing striker," said Hinkel, a Washington Crossing, Pa. resident. "It’s completely different. It’s just how the dynamics of the team are. There are players who are more prone to playing different positions. That’s just how it worked out for our team. As a freshman, they stuck me up top and put the seniors where they wanted to be.
"I was a striker from the very beginning. I had more goals than assists, but I was one of the smaller girls as a freshman. It was harder to make a difference."
Hinkel has grown into quite a difference maker. This year, as a Panther junior, she enjoyed her most satisfying season offensively while also making the most of a couple rare chances to show the skills that put her on defense for the Force.
"I just love playing," Hinkel said. "It doesn’t matter where you put me."
At striker, she can score or distribute. In the midfield, she runs tirelessly to support both ends. On defense, she challenges everything. Put her on the bench, she’d cheer the loudest, even though she’s quiet as they come. That, however, is not an option for the Panthers, who needed her on the field every minute as they put together a solid year.
Hinkel had career highs in goals with 24 and added two assists. That output helped the Panthers reach the Mercer County Tournament second round as well as the Prep A tournament semifinals after moving up from Prep B.
"We knew we did very well in the B’s," said Hinkel a year after PDS won the state crown. "We knew A’s would definitely be a challenge and we had to rise to the occasion. I thought we did."
Lauren Hinkel is the Princeton Packet Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year.
"She’s such a complete player," said PDS head coach Ted Harrington, who’s thrilled to have her for one more fall season. "There might be a couple players around that are better at one aspect or another, but she can play any position and dominate a game. There aren’t many players that can do that."
It might be hard to believe, but this season shows it. She had both the Panthers’ goals in a 2-1 win over rival Hun. And in the biggest game of the year, a 1-0 win over Peddie in the Prep A quarterfinals, it wasn’t a goal by Hinkel but her defense that preserved the biggest win of the year. Hinkel moved to sweeper for the last 20 minutes and helped keep the shutout.
"I played striker for a good part of the game and he moved me up after Keely (Langdon) put the ball in the net," Hinkel recalled. "He moved me back to sweeper. We hadn’t practiced that. People usually stayed in their same positions, but we practiced other positions if someone got hurt. But we focused on the ones we’d be most likely to play. I didn’t practice that. He basically said to pack it in."
Two days later, it was Hinkel’s goal-scoring that helped PDS advance to the MCT quarterfinals. Against West Windsor-Plainsboro South, she scored twice in a 4-3 win, and each goal seemed to lift the Panthers. That, Harrington said, could have been as big a game for her as Peddie.
"There was a point we were down, 2-0, and she put in a laser to make it 2-1," he said. "We were up, 3-2, and with eight minutes left, she puts in a rocket that I don’t think anybody saves. That was a game where she took over."
And what’s most incredible about Hinkel’s scoring ability is that it’s continued to increase though she’s drawn more attention every successive season.
"She’s not a secret anymore," Harrington said. "She gets man-marked every game. And she can create chance for other players when that happens. She helps the team. She’s a good distributor of the ball. She has a calm ability. Some people, when they receive that attention, change their game or get chippy. She stays relaxed most of the time and does the little things."
Maybe that comes from being all the way at the other end of the field on her club team, and helping the Force from the defensive end.
"It helps to know how the other team is thinking so you can counter it," Hinkel said. "It’s a different mindset."
And whether Hinkel is switching between being striker for PDS or a defender for the Force an hour or day later, or by the minute as she did in the win over Peddie, she’s proven capable of fitting either role just as easily.
"I definitely play different roles on the teams," Hinkel said. "For high school, it’s much more to get the ball up front, pass it off and make runs. For my club team, it’s marking strikers, stopping the ball and then switching the ball. It’s completely different."
But, in both cases, it’s for the betterment of the team. Even her personal goals revolve around helping the team.
"This year," Hinkel said, "my goal was to focus more on taking players on 1v1 and beating them and passing it and then making a return run. That’s what I worked on. Making a return run gives them another option. It was for opportunities for the team. You’re just trying to make space for the other player."
Harrington, who began is head coaching tenure in Hinkel’s freshman year, is thrilled that she’ll be back for one more fall season.
"I don’t think every team is fortunate to have a player like her," Harrington said. "The biggest thing she brings is her attitude. She’s skilled, which is great, but it’s her attitude that is most important. She’s not cocky about it. She works with the younger players. She goes hard in every practice. I’m sure she could take it easy and just go through some things we do, but it’s not the way she plays. She’s a quiet leader. When she says something, people listen. She leads by example. We have a lot of players to fill a lot of roles. What she does, she does very well."
Regardless of where she was on the field, Lauren Hinkel was a dominant part of the PDS girls’ soccer success.