Princeton Union semi-spectacular

Only nation’s best stops soccer team

By: Justin Feil
   Teams will be looking at the Princeton Union 90 soccer team with a little more respect when they travel to North Carolina for the Score at the Shore Tournament this weekend.
   Princeton Union earned a new measure of it by advancing to the semifinals of the Region I Tournament before losing to FC Delco, 2-1, in overtime in Maine last Monday. An unbeaten run through the qualification rounds coupled with its semifinal effort vaulted it into the Top 16 nationwide. Princeton Union reached the regionals by winning the New Jersey U-16 State Cup a month before.
   "I think it sets a high standard because of how far we’ve come," said Will Slade, a defender. "We also have a target on our back. We had so much success in regionals and won the state cup. We really need to continue to play at a high level and keep it up or we’ll lose our high ranking."
   Slade came to the Princeton Union as a 10-year-old, the same year in which Stoyan Pumpalov began coaching the team. The team plays year-round except during the high school season. Now in the U-16 division, the Princeton Union has improved successively each year under Pumpalov’s direction to reach its current level.
   They became just the second Princeton Soccer Association team to reach a regional semifinal. Never before had the Princeton Union even advanced beyond the quarterfinals of the State Cup.
   "We added a couple players which helped us a lot," said forward Antoine Hoppenot. "The team as a whole, it was just our year. We had a good run in the state cup. We were somewhat lucky."
   Princeton Union wanted to keep luck on its side. It spent the month leading up to the regionals working on fine-tuning for an even higher level of competition.
   "It was our next goal," Hoppenot said. "The month before our sights were on the regionals. Everything we did was to do well at regionals. We practiced almost every day. Each game was to prepare for us for regionals."
   Princeton Union plays games in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. When it got to regionals, it had a level of confidence to help overcome any uncertainty.
   "We were hoping we would do really well in regionals," Hoppenot said. "It was the first time we went to the tournament. We weren’t sure what to expect. After the first game, we knew we had a really good chance to go far."
   The Princeton Union opened regionals in encouraging fashion as it trailed the Pennsylvania state champion, Spirit United, 2-1, at halftime but got a pair of goals from Jelani Rooks off feeds from Ryan Fitzgerald and an insurance goal from Hoppenot and the defense clamped down for a 4-2 win. It gave them a big step forward in the qualification round.
   "The most important game is the first game," Slade said. "It sets the whole tournament up. It’s really a single-elimination tournament. They beat us two weeks before, so we really game-planed for them. Antoine and Jelani up top put the game away. The defense played well. We stopped their forwards. Were aggressive and stepped up to the ball. We played a physical game. Everyone on the defense had a really good game."
   Next up was New York state champion FC Westchester. Hoppenot gave Princeton Union a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes before FC Westchester tied it going into halftime. Kei Murata converted a penalty kick to give Princeton the lead again and Rooks headed in a cross from Hoppenot for a 3-1 lead. It stayed that way thanks to the midfield and defensive efforts.
   "The regionals, we came together as a team," said Hoppenot, who has been with the Union 90 team for seven years. "We put it together at the right time. We were always able to pull a good game whenever we needed to."
   Princeton closed out the qualification round with a 1-0 win over the Maine state champions on a goal from Hoppenot. While Hoppenot plays midfield for the Princeton Day School boys’ team, for whom he will be a senior this year, he is a striker for Princeton Union.
   "It’s definitely my primary position," Hoppenot said. "I’ve been one of the leading scorers all along. The scoring is very diverse. We have a large amount of players that can score."
   Princeton had plenty of confidence coming out of the qualification round, but knew it faced a stiff challenge in the regional semifinals. FC Delco was the defending champion, but it didn’t faze Princeton Union as they jumped to a 1-0 lead on a goal by Murata.
   "We were definitely the underdogs going into the game," Slade said. "We really had nothing to lose. We were just playing for ourselves. FC Delco had won last year. They’re ranked first or second in the country. We got a great goal in the first half and held it until five minutes left.
   "We lost one of our defense, Ari Silver, which was a big loss. We had our backs to the goal the whole second half. In overtime, they knocked one in pretty early."
   FC Delco went on to win the regional again, but it was a solid tournament for Princeton Union. They took a step forward with their solid run that began with the State Cup win and continued in regionals.
   "We knew how important this tournament was and how important regionals was," said Slade. "We trained really hard. Everyone was dedicated to this one tournament."
   That dedication was rewarded with a run to the regional semifinals. It’s enough to garner some well-deserved respect for Princeton Union.
   "I think we did surprise some teams," Hoppenot said. "We sort of somewhat surprised ourselves, winning all three group games and going to the semifinals. Even teams that were keeping up the regionals saw we were winning all our games."