By: Rich Fisher
JAMESBURG Emma Karp started her high school soccer career with guns a blazin’, and was Princeton High’s biggest scoring threat early in the season.
But, kind of like the guys in those old westerns, she seemingly ran out of ammo a few weeks ago. Rather than throw her gun at the enemy and run for cover, the freshman forward took some time to reload.
She came out blazin’ once again on Monday, and it could not have come at a better time. Karp scored two second-half goals to give the 9th-seeded Little Tigers a 2-1 victory over 8th-seeded Monroe in a first-round, Central Jersey Group III tournament game.
"I really wanted it," Karp said. "I’ve gone five games without scoring, maybe six. I was a really high scorer early in the season.
"But we went from having two forwards up top to having three up top. My job was to mark the sweeper. I got lost a little bit, but this was my fourth game playing like that, so I got used to it, and started scoring again."
Her outburst came none too soon, as Princeton had 40 minutes remaining in their season if they could not counter the first-half goal scored by Monroe’s Alanna Carr. Coach Greg Hand figured if his squad continued to play as it did in prior to intermission, things would take care of themselves.
"We came out ready to play hard and we got a full 80-minute effort together," said Hand, whose team played at top-seeded Freehold Boro Thursday. "We also had to deal in the first half, with not converting some pretty good opportunities, and the kids didn’t let that get to them. They just kept working that through til we tied it up."
Junior fullback Olivia Johnston put it a little more bluntly.
"At halftime, I had absolutely no doubt we could put one or two goals in," the Cranbury resident said. "There was no panic. I was a little disappointed we had let that one goal in, but it didn’t stop us from doing what we know how to do."
The tying goal came with 29:04 left to play, when Karp took the ball on the left flank and beat several defenders before launching one past standout goalie Caitlin Hoskins.
The goal seemed to wake up Monroe, which took back some of the play and had several scoring chances thwarted by PHS goalie Mary McNutt.
With eight minutes remaining, Princeton got the goal it needed in picture-perfect style. With her back to the goal, Michelle Hofman took a pass in the center of the attacking zone. Blanketed by a Monroe player, Hofman spun away and sent Karp a perfect feed. The 9th-grader beat one defender and let her shot rip, sending the Little Tigers into celebration mode.
It was Karp’s seventh goal of the season, giving her the team lead.
"I love that girl, I just love her," Johnston said. "She knows how to use her body and she knows how to find the goal. She’s remarkable."
Hand felt it was only a matter of time before Karp would acclimate herself to the new alignment.
"It took he a while to adjust," he said. "She likes to move around to get her share of touches and that was great for us at the beginning. When we asked her to stay a little more central and play a little deeper, that wasn’t easy for her.
"She was getting stuck, sort of in between the places where we wanted her to be and where she normally had played. But she’s really starting to adapt well and she sure got a lot done for us today."
Karp’s effort did not escape the eye of Monroe coach Kathy Dillon. Nor did the rest of the team.
"That number 18 (Karp) is very good, she actually transitioned the ball and controlled the middle of the field quite well," Dillon said. "And 24 (Chantal Celestin) at outside mid was tough. There were a bunch of girls that were talented and did well."
Princeton also got a couple of key defensive plays from Carly Edgcomb in the final minutes. What made Edgcomb’s play so impressive is that, moments before she re-entered, she was blasted on the side of the face by the ball while waiting to go back in.
It was symbolic of the tough effort the Little Tigers gave all day.
"In the second half, we did a good job of keeping composure," Hand said, "of not getting defensive in a dangerous way but continuing to pressure and trying to keep our shape on the field so we wouldn’t get countered."
Johnston had no doubts that Princeton would prevail, despite the fact it was on the road as a slightly lower seed. Her intuition proved correct, as the Little Tigers held an 18-5 advantage in shots.
"I played Monroe travel teams in the past and I found it kind of hard to believe they were the higher seed than us, but I didn’t want to get too cocky," Johnston said. "I still felt confident enough knowing our team could be better.
"We had heard they lost to Hightstown. We also lost to Hightstown, but we just got unfortunate in that game. I felt since they lost to them, we definitely had a chance."
And the chance grew even greater once Karp finally settled in to her new role.

