By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The West Windsor-Plainsboro High South boys soccer has enjoyed its run through the Mercer County Tournament.
And why shouldn’t they?
Two years ago the Pirates were a 3-13 team and last year they improved to six wins. This year the team has played well enough to gain the No. 2 seed in the MCT and on Monday night advanced to the final with a 1-0 win over Hopewell Valley.
“I told the guys before the game that our motto ‘For those who were for those who are Pirate soccer’ means something,” WW-P South coach Bryan Fisher said. “These guys know I talk up (former head coach Bryan Welsh, who passed away in 2010) a lot. There was something working for us in that game. We were clinging to the lead down a man playing 10 v 11 for the last 15 minutes. We showed a lot of resolve and when the hit the post on their shot with 30 seconds left I felt like something was there with us.”
Whatever special feeling the Pirates have this year, they have backed it up with great soccer on the field. The win over Steinert came on the heels of a win over WW-P North in the quarterfinals last Saturday. The MCT final against Pennington, which was originally scheduled to be played on Wednesday, was rescheduled to be played on Thursday night.
“We had a great start to the year and then we had some injuries and lost some close games,” Fisher said. “When the brackets came out we saw we had Hamilton, which is coached by one our former assistants, Chris Morales And then we were able to play North and Steinert, who we had lost to earlier on back-to-back days for our first two losses. We were fortunate to have that opportunity to play those teams again.”
The win over Steinert lifted the Pirates into their first MCT final since 2009 with hopes of continuing their magical season. Matt Stein scored the only goal of the game with an assist from Aaron Dean, while Luke Balistrieri made six saves for the shutout in goal.
“Our defense was great,” Fisher said. “We have awesome seniors with Matt (Stein) and Luke (Balistrieri) in the back. The kids have really put it together and are playing with something special right now.
“We were 3-13 two years ago and then last year 6-10-2. I thought the young guys got a lot of experience last year and that set up for what we are doing this year. We’re 13-4 and playing with confidence and playing well. It is a process and it takes time to build a team. This one is two years in the making and it is nice to see them get the wins they deserve. They’ve worked hard for it and it is nice to still be playing good soccer in late October.”
