Pirates soccer is MCT winner
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Scoring goals is nothing new for Alex Prieto. But scoring goals for the West Windsor-Plainsboro South boys’ soccer team is something new for the Pirates’ junior.
”On our club team (the WW-P Patriots), Drew (Siversten) and I play in the same positions as we do for the high school team,” said Prieto, who scored three goals on Saturday to lift the Pirates to a 4-0 win over Lawrence in the opening round of the Mercer County Tournament. “We’re the scoring guys for our travel team. Last year was a little harder to play at the beginning because the level of play was so high. It took a while to get used to it. But now were used to it. I like having him there because we have a lot of experience playing with each other and we know each other well.”
Prieto has made a habit of scoring goals for the Pirates, especially lately. His three against the Cardinals raised his season total to a team-high 14 goals. He also has eight assists.
”Last year he was a reserve and Josh (Richards) was our go-to guy,” WW-P South coach Brian Welsh said. “He’s never had a spot before where he’s had to be marked and been the guy. I think it has helped that we have Jeff (Fisher), who is a volunteer coach with us and he lived that position for three years. So he’s been a big help for both Alex and Drew.
”We had a black cat hanging over us for three years that we couldn’t win a first round game in the county tournament. So it was nice to get a win and get out of the first round.”
The Pirates were not the only Packet-area team to enjoy first-round success in the MCT. On the boys’ side, top-seeded WW-P North topped Robbinsville, 8-0, as Alex Cadar scored four goals and Scott Kelly added a pair. Princeton, the No. 5 seed, topped Hightstown, 5-0, as Sam Kotowski scored twice. Princeton Day School fell into the consolation round with a 3-1 loss to Notre Dame.
The boys’ quarterfinals were scheduled for Monday, with WW-P North taking on Hamilton and WW-P South hosting Princeton. The winners will play in the semifinals on Wednesday. The final is set for Friday night at Mercer County Community College.
On the girls’ side, Liz Huttner’s five saves made Maura McLaughlin’s first-half goal stand up for WW-P South in a 1-0 win over rival WW-P North in Saturday’s MCT first round. The Pirates improved to 11-4-2 with the win and advance to take on Notre Dame. Lexie Forsell and Jen Ibanez combined for eight saves for the Knights, who fell to 7-7.
Jess Frieder turned away 13 shots for PDS in a 1-0 win over Princeton in another MCT first-round game. Erin Cook scored off a free kick for the Panthers, who improved to 13-4 and will meet Pennington in the quarterfinals. Gabby Vukasin made seven saves for PHS, who fell to 10-5. The girls’ semis are Wednesday with the final slated for Friday at MCCC.
For the WW-P South boys, the win improved their record to 12-3-3 heading into Monday’s game against Princeton.
”I thought we could be pretty good,” Prieto said of his outlook before the season. “We’ve had a good season and even the games we’ve lost and tied, I feel like we could have won them if we had a better day. We’ve done pretty well considering the other teams we’ve played. We have played a lot of very good teams this year.”
This week the Pirates are hoping their success leads to some more games against some very good teams — which they have become themselves.

