By: Justin Feil
In the midst of Tuesday’s Group II semifinal at West Morris Central, the Princeton High School coaching staff agreed that they were in a real classic.
It didn’t make it any easier to take, however, when the Little Tigers lost, 9-8, to the No. 1 seed on a goal with 16 seconds left.
"It was as close a game as you can imagine," said PHS head coach Peter Stanton, whose team ends its year with a 10-6 record. "It was a game that could have truly gone either way. We had a lot of opportunities to win."
It was the second time in three years that West Morris ended a season for the Little Tigers. Two years ago, it was a 6-5 overtime game when West Morris carried the No. 2 seed and PHS the No. 10. This year, the Little Tigers advanced to the semifinals as the No. 4 seed and gave the top seed all it could handle.
"Obviously," Stanton said, "you don’t ever want to get blown out. In this game, we feel like, the game could have been ours. I think this is a little tougher to take. We worked so hard. Our players left it all out. They gave it everything they had. They went beyond what we asked of them.
"When you’re on the losing end of a game like this, you replay a lot of stuff, but one thing we rarely questioned this year is how hard they try. We executed some stuff pretty well today."
Princeton University-bound Tyler Moni, one of the seniors who was on the field two years ago against West Morris, led PHS with three goals and an assist. Cranbury’s Garrett Riley had two goals and two assists and Jeff Goeke made nine saves. While the Tigers look forward to returning players like Riley and Goeke, they will miss seniors like Moni and defenders Casey Rahn and Jesse Mostoller.
"Our three captains, Jesse, Tyler, and Casey, they started on a team that was 5-12 when they were freshmen," Stanton said. "To start from there and legitimately compete for state championships two years in a row, that’s largely their dedication and their excellence."
The seniors helped bring along a team of Little Tigers with a variety of experience. They helped maintain a level of excellence that now must be passed to the rising juniors and returning contributors.
"It’s interesting. The team we had this year was a real mixture of senior leadership combined with a lot of inexperience," Stanton said. "We either had guys who were four-year varsity players or guys who had been playing lacrosse for two years. It was a real blend. Obviously, we’re going to miss the heck out of those guys, but we’re hoping a lot of what they have will rub off on the other guys.
"We had guys like freshman Mike Olentine playing key roles for us. I had him in my home room and I asked him if he was going to try out for varsity. He said, I think I’ll play JV and dominate. We had him in man-up. He was an offensive midfielder. He moved around for us. We have him, Jeff Goeke, a sophomore, and Garrett Riley, who was in his first year as starter, coming back. Jon Yi scored a goal for us today, his first of the year. We’re hoping the dedication and spirit the seniors brought will rub off on the younger kids."
The returning players will remember how they battled with the No. 1 seed, how they took it right to the end before finally running out of time. It’s what it seemed like in the see-saw affair. PHS’ defense remained stalwart as usual, while West Morris put up a formidable defense as well.
"There was a lot of back and forth," Stanton said. "We had a two-goal lead once. They had a two-goal lead once. Both of them were erased. It was a fourth-quarter battle. Neither team pulled away and neither team backed down.
"After they scored, we did get the ball on our end. It was loose. It wasn’t like we had a real opportunity though."
The Little Tigers had their opportunity to take down the top seed Tuesday. They were right there with West Morris, and Stanton was proud of that fact and how the Little Tigers pulled together to have that chance.
"The thing about this season is that, it’s where we ended," he said. "We ended playing the No. 1 seed in a tightly contested game that we could have won.
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In last Thursday’s 12-9 win over Northern Highlands, Stanton had praise for Riley and Cranbury’s Chad Pinto.
With Polakoff and Moni having big scoring games, Riley quietly added two goals and two assists.
"Tyler and Brendan have a lot of field awareness," Stanton said. "They obviously look for each other and have a lot of confidence in each other. But the other thing is, Garrett Riley is a third guy who has to be respected. He has made some of those things a little easier."
As for Pinto, he saved one goal with the goalie out of position, and played a stellar defensive game throughout.
"Casey Rahn and Jesse Mostoller get all the recognition," Stanton said. "But we have three good guys back there. Chad has always been a guy that’s been a pretty physical player, but he’s gotten much better at picking up ground balls and helping us in the transition game."
Sports editor Rich Fisher contributed to this story.

