By: Robert Nuse
Cranbury resident Kevin Michel has a tendency to put himself in the right place on the soccer field. In most cases, that means somebody else scores a goal for the Hun School.
But on Tuesday, it was Michel who was not only in the right place, but he was in the right place to score. His two goals in the second half helped the Raiders come back from a 1-0 halftime deficit and top Hopewell Valley, 3-1, in the quarterfinals of the Mercer County Tournament.
"My job is to get the ball bouncing around in the box," said Michel, who had not scored since Hun’s season-opening win over Hill. "There are no real set plays for me, I just try to get my teammates good balls. I’m supposed to screen the goalie, that’s my job. This time they played the ball to me. Matt Miller did it on the first goal and Adam Kotchin did on the second goal."
With the win, Hun advanced to the MCT semifinals, where the Raiders were scheduled to face Hightstown on Thursday night. In the other semifinal, top-seeded Notre Dame was facing Steinert. The two winners will meet 6 p.m. on Saturday at Mercer County Community College for the MCT championship.
"It was a tough, physical game," Hun coach Chris Kingston said of the win over Hopewell. "We had just played them on Thursday, and beating them twice in five days was really tough. We got lucky. We were losing, 1-0, at the half. They’re good. They are a very physical team and they’re huge. Their strength is corner kicks and they have a kid with a big throw in.
"They had a lot of chances. They had two or three real good chances in the first half. And in the second half, once we went up, 2-1, for the next 10 to 15 minutes they really applied the pressure. Then we scored with three minutes left. Soccer is a crazy game the way the momentum can swing."
It’s also a crazy game in that Michel can go almost the whole season without scoring, then come up with two of the biggest goals of the year for his team.
"That’s not my main job," Michel said. "We have other guys that can do that. This team as a whole is very skillful. I’m not sure how many we have, but we’re a senior dominated team and everyone is so into this season. Our back four is all seniors, we have three of four seniors in the midfield. A lot of us have been together for four years. We have really come together as a team this year."
The win on Tuesday was the sixth in a row for Hun since a 9-0 loss to St. Benedict’s. In those six wins, the defense has not allowed more than one goal in a game. In fact, there have been just two games this season where a team has scored more than once against the Raiders.
"Our defense played well," said Kingston, whose team improved to 14-2 with the win. "They hit the post a couple times and Kevin Morse made some nice saves. Ryan Putman, Jon D’Angelo and Mark Chiarello, they were our back three most of the game and they did a nice job."
And then in the second half, Michel found the net twice to give the defense all the support it would need.
"He hasn’t scored a lot, but he’s a hard worker," Kingston said. "He breaks up plays and creates a lot of chances for his teammates. Even today, he always seemed to be the one with the ball in good scoring opportunities. Two or three times he found himself with the ball at his feet, five or six yards from the goal and he would shoot wide or at the goalie. But it’s a credit to him to be in that position.
"He is in the right place at the right time frequently and today in the second half he came up with two big goals for us."
Last Saturday, Hun topped Peddie, 2-0, to secure a Mid-Atlantic Prep League championship. With a senior dominated group, the Raiders now would like to play a MCT title.
"I think it is definitely an advantage that we’ve all played together and we’ve all played under Coach Kingston," Michel said. "Everyone has bought into his system and it works for us. We play a possession style that is hard to play, but if you play it right it is great soccer.
"We won the MAPL and went 5-0, which is the first time we’ve done that at Hun. It’s a very competitive league, so we’re real happy to have won it."
And on Tuesday, the Raiders were happy that Michel was in his usual right place at the right time.
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In another MCT quarterfinal, Princeton, the No. 4 seed, dropped a 2-1 decision to fifth-seeded Steinert. The Little Tigers got a goal from Michael Lynch in the loss.
