Pirates’ soccer heating up at right time
By: Bob Nuse
Brian Welsh isn’t afraid to admit that one of the best coaching moves made by his West Windsor-Plainsboro High South boys’ soccer team this season came from one of his co-captains.
"One of the main changes we made was moving Alger (Fredericks) into the midfield," Welsh said. "That’s one of the biggest factors to why we’re playing well, and it was his idea. He came to me at halftime of the Hightstown game and said, ‘I think you should switch Zac Howes and myself because it would be better for the team.’ He said he thought he could control the midfield and that Zac was a better defender. It has worked out for us."
Aided by the slight change in positions, WW-P South has now won three straight games to improve to improve to 8-6 on the season. The latest of those wins came on Friday, when the Pirates topped Allentown, 4-0. That win came on the heels of a 2-1 win over Hightstown a day earlier.
For WW-P South, it appears as though the Pirates are now playing their best soccer of the season at just the right time.
"This is one of those teams that has started to blossom late, which is actually the appropriate time," said Welsh, whose team will host Nottingham today and Hamilton on Thursday to close out the regular season. "Last year we played well the first three weeks and we were 5-1-1, but we finished the season 10-9-1. This year, we started a little slower, but we’re starting to play better now.
"This team has had to go through a lot. There are still things that need to be ironed out, but we’re playing better together and everyone has confidence in each other. And that has produced the results that we’ve seen the last three games."
The Pirates’ schedule has included games against three of the top teams in the state in Lenape, Shawnee and St. Benedict’s. There was also a pre-season game against Montgomery, leaving the team prepared for anything it might see along the way.
"Playing those teams makes you a better team," Fredericks said. "I think we can play with any team in the CVC. I’d love for us to get another shot at Hopewell or North during the county tournament. That would be nice. But I’m not sure who we’ll draw."
Fredericks’ move to the midfield and the subsequent move of Howes to defense has helped the Pirates control play in their last three games, which they’ve won by a combined score of 9-1.
"We started out in the middle," said Fredericks, who has a pair of assists this season for the Pirates. "He plays for Match Fit and I play for Princeton and we’re both outside backs on our club teams. Mr. Welsh likes Zac as a center-midfielder and used me more in the back. I feel like I’m a little better as moving the ball and Zac is a little better defender.
"We’re coming together. We have a lot of seniors on our team, but only five of them start. But we’re really a pretty young team because a lot of our starters had played JV last year. I think it took a while for us to get used to each other. We just needed some time to play together and get used to each other."
Having a player like Fredericks, with his experience and leadership ability, certainly helps the Pirates.
"He’s a good kid," Welsh said. "He wants to go to the Ivies and he has got the grades to do it. He’s really a good kid. The team has taken some time to come together, but this is the best time to do it. We start the Mercer County Tournament next week and then the states after that, so hopefully we’re playing our best soccer heading into these tournaments."
Fredericks hopes the Pirates can end this season playing their best soccer. And beyond this year, he would like to continue playing at the next level.
"I definitely want to keep playing next year," said Fredericks, who was born in New Jersey but began his soccer career while living in North Carolina. "I’ve talked to some coaches and my club coach is the coach at Princeton, so he knows people and lets them know about me. It would be hard to give up playing soccer because I’ve been doing it for so long. I can’t imagine not playing.
"I didn’t start playing competitively until I got back to New Jersey when I was 11 or 12. I played a year in Princeton because we lived there while our house was being built. Then I started playing here."
And he’s now a fixture on the field for the Pirates, who are certainly glad to have him.