Seniors leave with bar raised high
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
TOMS RIVER — Only six teams that qualify for the state boys’ soccer tournament can end the season with a win.
West Windsor-Plainsboro High North had hoped to be one of them. But for the second straight year the Knights fell one win short of a berth in the state Group III final. And for the second year in a row, the Knights left everything they had on the field.
On Tuesday night at Toms River North, WW-P North held a 1-0 lead late in the game against Moorestown thanks to a brilliant goal by Mike Tartaro off a cross from Kevin Nowak. But the Quakers tied the game with a goal with just under 10 minutes to play, then got the game-winner on a goal with 1:08 left in regulation.
”I think we played a lot better in the second half,” said WW-P North coach Trevor Warner, whose team finished the season with a 19-2 record. “I thought we were fortunate to be 0-0 at halftime. I thought we lacked a little energy. We lacked a little composure. We didn’t connect on a whole lot in the first half.
”But the second half we had instant results. The first five minutes I think we did everything we wanted to do. No. 10 (Kevin Kirsch) is a good player and the last two minutes he capitalized two times.”
The Knights got their goal less than five minutes into the second half and continued to dominate play for the next 20 minutes. They just were not able to put in that second goal that could have made the difference.
”We had so many opportunities getting forward,” Warner said. “We had the ball in good positions in front of the goal and it could have been the dagger. During the course of the year we were getting the job done there. We had been good at putting a team away and making them think that maybe they couldn’t compete, but today for some reason we just didn’t get it done.”
The Knights received a couple of brilliant saves in goal from Dan Hayduchok, who has been filling in for the injured Eric Scala. Even with the 1-0 lead, they never fell into a defensive shell.
”That is our mentality really,” Warner said. “The Wall game was a different case, but that’s not our mentality really. That was the only time we were more defensive minded. A couple times we dropped Kevin Nowak back to mark (Princeton’s Sam) Kotowski, but to me that’s not having a defensive posture. That’s trying to shut down a good player. I’m proud of the way we approached it.”
And he’s proud of his players, who for the second straight year came agonizingly close to reaching the state final. Warner will especially miss a group of seniors who have meant so much to the program.
”There a real good bunch of kids and they deserved to move on,” Warner said. “Not to take anything away from Moorestown, they put two in and we had one, but these kids worked so hard. They’re so likeable. They have good character and they have talent on top of it. It’s rare. Who has a freak bunch like that? All the kids are so good and so special to me. This team is special to them and it is unfortunate that most teams seasons end like this.
”It is a difficult bar they set. I remember standing here at this time last year thinking we just lost in the state semifinal and we may never sniff this field again. To their credit they came back. We had expectations this year and everybody had expectations on us. The amazing thing that says so much about these guys is they accomplished it even when they were expected to do it. And that is so difficult to do. We have a Central Jersey title and we have to remember that. It’s just unfortunate that we did not go further.”
But for the second straight year, the Knights did themselves and the Colonial Valley Conference proud. Even if they did come up one win short of their ultimate goal of playing for a state title.

