PHS boys, girls and Montgomery girls take unique paths
By: Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The run to the sectional championship game has been filled with nail-biters for the Princeton High boys soccer team, consistent play for the Princeton High girls, and business as usual for the Montgomery High girls.
The Princeton boys advanced to the Central Jersey Group III final with their second overtime win of the tournament as they topped Middletown South, 2-1, last Thursday. The win set up a rematch with Allentown in the CJ III final which Princeton won, 1-0, last year. The game was scheduled to be played Monday.
”At this point it is just about getting through to the next round,” said Princeton coach Wayne Sutcliffe, whose team has won three straight one-goal games in the state tournament.
The Little Tigers scored a first on a goal by Aiden Passanante in the opening half. After the Eagles tied the game with a goal early in the second half, the teams went to overtime. Midway through the second overtime, Kevin Halliday connected for his 20th goal of the season to give Princeton the win.
”It was a timely goal and it was coming,” Sutcliffe said of the tally. “He hasn’t converted one in a couple of games and he is such a talented player. He hit it with such authority and really put a stamp on the game.”
Princeton controlled the play through much of the final 20 minutes of regulation and overtime before getting the winning goal.
”It’s been a priority to be at our best when the pressure is greatest,” Sutcliffe said. “This is our third overtime game of the season and two this week. So our mentality has led us to be at our best and focused in these tight spots.”
Princeton played without starting goalkeeper Laurenz Reimitz and starting center back Adam Klein, who were both banged up in the opener of the state tournament. But the defense came together and did enough to win.
”We have 12 seniors and we’ve been behind a lot, more times than we would have liked,” outside back Scott Bechler said. “But we’ve shown we can come back. That was one of their only shots and we felt like that was our one mistake. After that we didn’t make many mistakes.
”Kevin is pretty consistent around the goal and I know he has been able to finish those. I saw him go for it and it went in. He gets all the rebound goals. They’re not the prettiest but he gets them all the time.”
The Princeton girls were locked in a scoreless battle with Hopewell Valley for more than 73 minutes in last Friday’s CJ III semifinal before Meghan Brennan scored off a restart by Haley Bodden to give Princeton a 1-0 lead. Kate Kerr scored three minutes later to give the Little Tigers an insurance goal on the way to a 2-0 win that avenged an earlier loss to the Bulldogs.
With the win, the second-seeded Little Tigers are set to host eighth-seeded Colts Neck in the sectional final today at 2 p.m.
”The kids really seemed to be connected the last 20 minutes of the game,” Princeton coach Greg Hand said. “Both teams worked extremely hard the whole game. I thought it was essentially an even game.”
Bodden had been on the mark with several free kicks and corners throughout the game before Brennan converted with 6:37 left in regulation.
”Haley has been on the money all year long with restarts and Meghan is just a player who has really stepped up,” Hand said. “The game just started to flow better and it is nice to know what we are capable of came out. The kids certainly worked hard for that.”
Princeton is back in the sectional finals for the first time since 2004, when the Little Tigers lost to Ridge.
”What defines this team is heart, first of all,” Hand said. “They show it every day in practice and on the field when we are playing. Second of all, we have girls young and veterans who have played a lot of years. The challenge this year is to understand what we’re trying to do when we have the ball and when the other team has the ball and try to make it happen.”
Montgomery’s run to the CJ IV finals has been as dominating as its regular season. The Cougars topped Hillsborough, 4-1, in Friday’s sectional semifinal and will host Old Bridge in today’s 4 p.m. sectional final.
In three sectional tournament games, the Cougars have outscored the opposition, 16-2.
”We were pretty dominant the whole game,” Montgomery coach Jeremy Beardsley said. “We just didn’t finish our chances. They played hard and they have a couple good players, but they only had three shots on goal. It was a story of us just missing some opportunities (to be tied at halftime). When we finished the opportunities, that opened up the margin.”
The Cougars improved to 20-1-2 as Colby Ciarrocca and Catrina Altanda each scored twice in the win. Montgomery will look to defend its sectional crown against seventh-seeded Old Bridge, which defeated Hunterdon Central in the semifinals.
”I’m in absolute love with this team, how we fight, how resilient and how tough we are to go through times when we’re not finishing,” Beardsley said. “It could be frustrating with so much pressure and expectations on us, but game in and game out, we’re getting the job done.
”It doesn’t just happen. They made it happen. They wanted it so bad, and they have another opportunity to win another state sectional championship. It’s our first year ever winning 20 games. It’s great that this group has had the opportunity to be the first to say they’ve won 20 games.”
Beardsley knows his team will be in for a challenge against Old Bridge.
”They did some damage against Hunterdon Central and upset the 2 seed,” he said. “They’re a tough team and work hard. It’s going to be a challenge.”

