Price has grown up with PHS

Aids girls’ lacrosse in turnaround

By: Bob Nuse
   Lizzy Price is part of the new breed of Princeton High girls’ lacrosse player. The type that starts playing young and goes on to be part of a successful high school team.
   "I started playing when I was in sixth grade, so I have been playing for five years now," said Price, who scored three goals Tuesday as Princeton improved to 4-2 with a 12-10 win over West Windsor-Plainsboro North.
   "There are a lot of us now that play all year round. We play in the winter at Peddie and over the summer. There are a lot of clubs now for the girls like Tri-Lax and PG Lacrosse. There are a lot of opportunities."
   That wasn’t always the case for the girls at Princeton. In fact, it wasn’t all that long ago that head coach Joyce Jones had many of her players entering the program with little, if any, experience. Now, the players come into the program already knowing the basics of the game.
   "That has made a tremendous difference," said Jones, whose team has won all four of its games in New Jersey this season, with two losses coming in Florida. "Girls are playing all year now. They’re touching the ball more and coming into the pre-season at a higher level. There are more youth leagues like PG Lax. It makes so much of a difference in the skill level of the players."
   Price is just a sophomore at PHS, but she’s a very experienced lacrosse player. And since she has arrived, the Little Tigers have only known success. Last year, with a team that had no seniors, Princeton surprised a lot of people and went 11-2. This year the Little Tigers are off to another good start and have high hopes.
   "We were pretty excited coming into this season," said Price, who has 14 goals and seven assists this season. "We didn’t lose any seniors, so the whole team was back from last year. We felt like we could come into this season and really take off. We’re coming off a great season last year, but we also felt like we could have done better.
   "This year we know teams will be ready for us and it is going to take a lot of hard work for us to keep winning."
   In its first six games this season, Princeton has shown it can be just as good, or better, than a year ago. Price is part of a very balanced lineup for the Little Tigers. Sarah Wright and Allegra Formento lead the offense with 15 goals apiece. Price has scored 14, while Rebecca Schild has nine and Carter Haughton eight.
   "Last year we surprised a lot of people, but we weren’t going to be able to do that this year," Jones said. "But all of the girls who are back have improved since last year, so we’re a better team. Lizzy has improved her stick-work. She’s always had great speed and she plays with a lot of intensity on the field. She’s very quick on the draws and does what it takes to gain possession.
   "Our whole team is like that. The girls have improved their stick-work and we also have a lot of different people who can score. If one person is down, then someone else gets the job done. We don’t have to rely on just one player to score for us. We try to get the ball to several players and not just one or two."
   The Little Tigers already own impressive wins over Notre Dame and WW-P North. The schedule still has some tough teams ahead, beginning with Pennington and Hopewell Valley next week. But Jones feels like her team is prepared.
   "The teams we played in Florida were very tough," she said. "They had started playing a month before us. One team was 7-1 and the other was 6-0. But I think we learned a lot from those games. They were very important for us. We came back and worked on the things we needed to work on and so far it is working for us."
   For the younger players like Price, it has always worked for the Little Tigers. They’ve only known success at the high school level.
   "We had a good year last year and we want to keep on winning," Price said. "It doesn’t come easy. We all know we have to work hard and we’ve been doing that."
   And that’s resulted in Princeton turning into a pretty good program.