By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The Princeton Day School girls soccer team had one very big reason to feel confident as their Mercer County Tournament semifinal game against Pennington headed to penalty kicks.
The Panthers had Grace Barbara in their side. And when you have a goalkeeper like Barbara on your side, you have to be confident in penalty kicks.
“That’s how we felt,” PDS coach Pat Trombetta said. “The last three games we have played against them have gone double overtime. One in 2015 and the two this year. It’s a very competitive rivalry. They have always been one of the top teams in the county and we enjoy playing against them.”
With a trip to the MCT final on the line, the teams traded goals in regulation before heading to overtime. After another 20 minutes of scoreless soccer, the teams headed to penalty kicks, where Barbara saved a pair of Red Raider shots to help the Panthers to the win.
Rebecca Kuzmicz, Ariana Jones and Damali Simon-Ponte each converted penalty kicks for the Panthers, while Barbara stopped two shots and one other missed the goal to give PDS the 3-0 advantage.
“They scored in the first five minutes and we had to settle in,” Trombetta said. “We changed some things tactically and it took a little time for girls to adapt.”
The Panthers drew even when Brooke Smukler scored off a free kick by Madison Coyne.
“When we scored off the free kick you could see the weight come off their shoulders,” Trombetta said of his team. “We tied it up and our energy level spiked.”
The win sent the third-seeded Panthers to the MCT finals, where they were scheduled to take on top-seeded Hopewell Valley in a rematch of the 2013 title game that PDS won, 2-0. PDS, which played Pennington to a scoreless tie earlier this season, took a 15-0-2 record into the match.
Once the semifinal game went to overtime, Trombetta liked his team’s chances.
“(Penalty kicks) are something I stress and we work on in practice often,” he said. “A lot of teams don’t spend time with PKs. We spend a lot of time with it. It gives Grace a lot of reps. A lot of the teams and players know the quality of keeper she is and it gets in kickers’ heads. So we feel like mentally we have an edge.”
Barbara stopped the first and third shots from the Red Raiders, while the second shot sailed over the crossbar.
“You might get a PK once during a game, but we still work on it,” Trombetta said. “We didn’t have one the whole regular season. This game was the first time we took a penalty kick all year. It was nice to finish three for three.”
The MCT is part of a busy week for the Panthers, who are also playing in the state Prep B tournament. The top seed, PDS is scheduled to host Newark Academy in the semifinals (Friday) and would play in the final on Sunday with a win.
“It is always a tough stretch for us,” Trombetta said. “You learn from it and know how much to push during practice and when to take a day off. We make sure they eat properly we re-enforce a lot.”
