PHS senior leads field hockey team to win over WW-P North
By: Justin Feil
Alyssa Shell had hoped to be a factor for the Princeton High School girls’ field hockey team this season.
She got off to a quick start in the Little Tigers’ season-opening 5-1 win over West Windsor-Plainsboro High North. The senior forward scored three times – once early in the first half, then twice in the middle of the second half – to surprise even herself.
"I’m always nervous before games," Shell said. "This was the first game of the year, and it’s our last year as seniors. This is a last chance for us.
"I was hoping to do well, but I wasn’t expecting anything like this. We all worked really hard in preseason. All the stuff we worked on in preseason paid off."
The five goals were the most by Princeton since a 6-1 win over Hamilton at the end of last October. Shell was moved to forward for the final four games of that season and has taken the role this year. Her hat trick already equaled her goal output for the entire 1999 season making PHS head coach Joyce Jones look like a genius.
"I moved her from the backfield to forward," Jones said. "And she’s been there scoring ever since. I moved her up the last four or five games based on her stickwork, intensity and speed. We needed that last year."
Maybe Shell, who scored all three of her goals after her move to the front line last season, is part of a new Princeton offense that will be more dynamic this season.
The Little Tigers got a quick goal less than three minutes into the game from Noelle Marchetta, who moved up from the defense to the midfield herself. Shell followed with a goal two minutes later and PHS staked a quick 2-0 lead.
"We got the two quick goals, then just seemed to say, ‘This game is over,’" Jones recalled. "I told them at halftime the game’s not over until we’ve played 60 minutes."
By halftime, it was just a 2-1 lead thanks to a quick shot from Emily Wasco off a feed from Colette Delgado. The Knights outplayed Princeton over the final 10 minutes of the first half, but would muster only six total shots for the game while PHS sent 13 shots at WW-PN.
"They did start to come on strong," said Knights’ head coach Carly Malfa. "We were playing a lot in their 25 for some of the end of the half, and then we just came out and were flat.
"Everyone was a little on edge. We talked a little about what we wanted to do today, but we weren’t able to do it. We have two days to practice, and I think (today) against Hopewell Valley will be better."
WW-PN was playing its first game ever, but the Knights’ stickwork and speed impressed Jones, a 27-year veteran of the Colonial Valley Conference. Her Little Tigers gave the Knights a rough introduction after easing up at the end of the first half.
"I felt myself slowing down," Shell admitted. "At halftime we talked and came out at full speed and full intensity. we woke up and took it to them again."
Almost 10 minutes into the second half, Shell ripped a shot that smacked into the back of the new Princeton cages, then added another score with 17 minutes to play in the game for the hat trick. Jacque Brooks scored four minutes later to give the Little Tigers their final edge.
"We had our scoring opportunities, but we weren’t putting them in," Jones said. "We weren’t getting our sticks on it. I told them, ‘You have the license to kiss the back of the new nets.’ Finally, Alyssa did that.
"I thought she was going to break our new boards."
Those boards at the back of the cage may take quite a beating if Princeton can maintain its offensive pressure for a full game. The Little Tigers travel to Ewing for a 3:45 p.m. game today. And Shell hopes to continue her scoring penchant in her new position.
"I’m comfortable playing forward now," Shell said. "I sort of adjusted after a few weeks of it. I’m just working with different people, and you get used to that.
"I would love to score a whole bunch of goals this season. I don’t have to be the only one. We have the ability to get a lot of deflections. As a team, I think we’ve got the ability to score some goals."