Bu Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Bob NuseSports Editor
The Princeton High field hockey team went on the road and gave highly-regarded Hunterdon Central all it could handle before falling in the semifinals of the North Jersey, Section 2 Group 4 tournament on Tuesday.
The Little Tigers scored first, on a goal by Avery Peterson less than a minute into the game, and after falling behind, 3-1, scored twice within three minutes in the second half to draw even.
The Red Devils would add a fourth goal to pull out a 4-3 win but not before Princeton came through with some big defensive efforts.
This was one of our best games and I couldn’t ask for anything better,” senior Trish Reilly said after the game. “We did all we could. Hunterdon Central is a great team and we were the perfect mix of aggressive as well as skilled. Everything we have been working on all season came together.”
Reilly finished with a goal and an assist, while Gwen Koehler also scored for the Little Tigers. Kate Rogers finished with 16 saves in goal.
“She has come up with some great saves,” Princeton coach Heather Serverson said of Rogers. “Her play in this game was amazing and she kept us in the MCT semifinal game. We didn’t take any steps backwards this season as being a quality program and that is what we look at and anything over that is icing on the cake. The fact we made it to the semifinals of both the MCT and the states is pretty good.”
West Windsor-Plainsboro North was also eliminated from the state tournament, falling to Middletown South, 1-0, on Monday in the quarterfinals of the North Jersey, Section 2 Group 3 tournament.
The fourth-seeded Knights played the No. 5 seeded Eagles tight for the entire game but allowed one goal to slip through to provide the difference.
“I can’t say enough about how our girls have grown over the course of the season,” WW-P North coach Paula Tessien said. “They came together and unified. We had some opportunities but unfortunately the clock ran out on us today.”
The Knights made the kind of strides that a coach loves to see over the course of the season and Tessien couldn’t be any happier with the way her team progressed.
“We scrimmaged Cumberland in our first scrimmage as a team,” Tessien recalled. “We were probably a team for maybe 48 hours before we stepped on the field for that scrimmage. The team then and the team today is beyond my expectations. They step up and are mentally strong and able to adjust to really tough competitive teams throughout the season. Who wouldn’t be proud of that?”
