By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Peter Luther had a pretty good feeling about the makeup of this year’s Princeton High boys soccer team.
And if the Little Tigers’ 1-0 overtime win over Westfield in their season opener last Saturday is any indication, Luther might be right.
“This was a very good game to start with,” said Luther, whose play in the back helped Princeton keep Westfield off the scoreboard for 80 minutes of regulation and another six minutes of overtime. “This will be the kind of team we’ll see in the postseason. Coming into the game we knew it was going to be a tough test. We knew this team would go in hard and we just went in harder.
“We have been working on our team dynamic over preseason. We have such a deep roster. Our biggest problem is we don’t know where to put all of our good players. We have almost our whole starting lineup back.”
Princeton lost some key components from the team that reached the Group III state final last year, including all-everything leading scorer Chase Ealy. But the returning group is deep and talented and has experience all over the field.
“Chase did everything,” Luther said. “He was great at defending, attacking, goal scoring. But everyone is contributing in their own way this year. We have a lot of players who are going to help us go far. We just can’t let the pressures of doing well get to us. We know we had a successful season last year and we know we have to earn everything.
“Before last year we didn’t know what it felt like to win and now we do. We just have to do it again.”
Princeton faced a tough test in its opener, facing a Westfield team that figures to be a contender at tournament time. The Blue Devils coaching staff includes former Little Tiger Demont Heard, which was part of the reason the game wound up as the opener for both teams.
“Demont Heard being an alum and a very successful coach in a top program, as well as our league campaign not starting until a week later, made this a nice way to start the season,” said Princeton coach Wayne Sutcliffe, whose team will face Trenton today in its Colonial Valley Conference opener.
“Westfield gave us all kinds of trouble sending guys through early and sending these dangerous balls through. All credit to the defense with Chris (Harla) and Edgar (Morales) and Sam (Serxner) and Jake (Caddeau) and Pete Luther. They were great. And Owen (Lindenfelder) had a good game in goal. He was sharp when he needed to be. He is going to be great for us.”
After a scoreless 80 minutes of regulation Princeton got the game-winning goal in overtime on a penalty kick by Harla after the Little Tigers’ Nick Halladay was fouled in the box. For Harla, a senior in his second season as a Princeton captain, the goal was a great way to open the season.
“I was so happy for Chris,” said Sutcliffe, who has 16 players returning from last year’s Central Jersey Group III champions. “He is one our three captains and a second year captain. He stepped up and he took that ball. That is leadership and quality when it matters most.”
And the goal helped Princeton open the season on a positive note as the defense held Westfield in check.
“We played their rival, Scotch Plains, a few weeks ago in the preseason and lost pretty poorly,” Luther said. “We knew it would be tough because we had never seen them before. This game will definitely be a catalyst into the season.”
