By: Bob Nuse
It took the Princeton High boys’ soccer team a little while to get going on Tuesday, but once the Little Tigers got started, they had little trouble putting away Neptune in the opening round of the Central Jersey Group III tournament.
"We had some great effort in the front third in the beginning of the game and we were able to create some chances, but we weren’t converting," said Princeton coach Wayne Sutcliffe, whose team advanced to host Hopewell Valley in the sectional quarterfinals today at 2 p.m.
"Then Sam Kotowski (of Cranbury) drew a penalty kick and Javier (Ramirez) buried it. Then Javier scored again later. Up until that point, I felt like we were in control of the game. Our guys played well. We defended well and we created."
With the win, the Little Tigers improved to 13-3 and will face a Hopewell team they beat earlier this season, 3-1. The game against Neptune was just the second this season for Princeton against a non-Colonial Valley Conference team. Now, they’ll face a league foe again.
"In the first round, I was happy to draw a team outside the CVC," said Sutcliffe, whose team lost to Neptune in overtime two years ago after tying the score with one second left. "For the next three rounds, I don’t care who we play. The upside of playing a CVC team is that you know what to expect."
Princeton could face another CVC team if it happens to advance to the sectional semifinals. The third-seeded Little Tigers would face the winner of the game between No. 2 Long Branch and No. 7 seed Lawrence.
A day earlier, Princeton had locked up the CVC Patriot Division title with a 3-2 win over Lawrence.
"The guys were happy to get a win," Sutcliffe said. "That was a goal for us at the beginning of the year. We wanted to win as many championships as possible. We played well and we were very happy to win the CVC Patriot Division."
In the win over Neptune, Ramirez scored twice, while Anastacio Perez, and Cranbury residents Corey Marsh and Ross MacDonald added single tallies.

