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Photo by Jennifer Bednar / Hun School freshman Charlotte Bednar (left) and her Northeast Region teammate Lexi Westley of Warren Hills High School share a smile at the Nike Cross National meet in Portland, Ore.
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Photo by Dick Druckman / Princeton University quarterback John Lovett throws a touchdown pass to his favorite receiver, Jesper Horsted, in the third quarter of the Tigers’ 42-14 victory over Penn that secured a perfect 10-0 season.
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Photo by Tim Williams / Pictured are members of the Princeton Day School boys’ lacrosse team, which captured its third straight Mercer County Tournament championship with a 9-3 victory over Hightstown.
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Photo by Shelley Szwast / Josh Teves (left) and the Princeton University men’s ice hockey team have had plenty to celebrate this season. The Tigers will play in the ECAC tournament semifinals today against Cornell.
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Courtesy photo / Pictured are coaches and athletes from the Princeton High boys track and field team that captured the Group IV state championship by an 81-76 margin over East Orange.
By Bob Nuse
Sports Editor
The 2018 athletic year for Packet-area schools was one of historic accomplishments, as well as continued dominance by programs that have become perennial champions.
There were tremendous accomplishments from the programs at Montgomery High, Princeton High, The Hun School, Princeton Day School, Stuart Country Day School and Princeton University.
In a year of success, here is a countdown of one look at the top 10 accomplishments of the year.
10. Going out in style: For the leaders of the Princeton Day School boys’ lacrosse program, the Mercer County Tournament championship game was a fitting finale to outstanding careers.
Not only did the Panthers’ 9-3 victory over Hightstown bring to a close the careers of a senior class who won three straight MCT titles, but it also was the final game for head coach Rich D’Andrea and assistant coach and former head coach, Rob Tuckman. The Panthers finished 10-5 on the season, with their losses coming against some of the top programs in the area. They used the challenge of a tough regular-season schedule to be ready for the MCT.
PDS became the first team to win three straight MCT boys’ lacrosse tournament titles. The team had won the state Prep B title the previous three years, but moved up to Prep A this past season and was eliminated in the semifinals.
9. Drive for five: The Hun School ice hockey team has made a habit of peaking just in time for the Mercer County Tournament each year. This past season the Raiders made it five straight MCT titles with a 9-4 victory over Princeton. It was the second straight season that the Raiders topped Princeton in the final.
Hun entered the county final with a record just above .500, but closed out the season with four straight MCT victories to finish 13-8-1. In the championship game, Kyle Mandleur finished with three goals and four assists to pace the offense. Matthew Argentina added two goals and two assists in the triumph.
8. One for the thumb: The Princeton Day School girls’ soccer program has been the model of consistency – and success – when it comes to the Prep B state tournament over the last five seasons.
The Panthers captured their fifth straight Prep B title when they defeated Montclair Kimberley, 4-2, to conclude their season. After sharing the Prep B title with MKA the past two seasons, the Panthers had this one all to themselves thanks to a big offensive day. Brooke Smukler scored a pair of goals for the Panthers, while Jules Romano and Ariana Jones each contributed a goal in the victory.
Prior to starting their streak of five straight Prep B titles, the Panthers had captured the Mercer County Tournament title in 2013. That makes six straight seasons that head coach Pat Trombetta’s squad has come away with a tournament title.
PDS finished the season 14-4-1, reaching the semifinals of the MCT before winning the Prep B.
7. Growing up fast: After winning just four games with a relatively young squad during the 2016-17 season, the Montgomery High girls’ basketball team used the experience it gained that year to completely turns around its fortunes last season.
The Cougars went from a team that finished 4-20 to a team that finished 20-8 and reached the finals of the Central Jersey, Group 4 tournament before falling to Hunterdon Central, 32-26. Montgomery, the No. 2 seed, opened the state sectional tournament with a 53-38 victory over 15th-seeded Monroe before topping 10th-seeded Trenton, 66-47, in the second round. The Cougars got past third-seeded Colts Neck, 59-51, in the sectional semifinals before falling to eighth-seeded Hunterdon Central in the final.
Montgomery enjoyed its success despite having just three seniors on the roster. The young team grew by leaps and bounds and turn a four-win season into a 20-win season.
6. Turnaround complete: The Princeton University men’s hockey program had been making steady progress under head coach Ron Fogarty. But was the 2017-2018 season entered its final stages, the Tigers progress went into hyperdrive.
In his fourth season as head coach, Fogarty saw his team close out the regular season on a 13-3-1 run that earned the Tigers the No. 7 seed in the ECAC playoffs. The Tigers swept Brown in the first round before sweeping No. 2 seed Union in the quarterfinals to earn a trip to Lake Placid. The Tigers knocked off No. 1 seed Cornell, 4-1 in the semifinals and topped No. 3 seed Clarkson 2-1 in overtime, in the championship game. Senior Max Becker came through with the winning goal when he connected at 2:37 into overtime for the program’s first ECAC championship since 2008.
Princeton, which finished the season with a 19-13-4 record, advanced to the NCAA tournament where it dropped a 4-2 decision to Ohio State.
The Tigers had won just four games in Fogarty’s first season leading the program. By the time the group of freshmen who came into the program that first season were seniors, the Tigers had completed their rebuild and taken a place among the top teams in the nation.
5. Historic effort: The Princeton High boys’ track and field program entered the 2017-2018 school year with a lofty goal – win the county ‘Triple Crown.’ The Little Tigers did just that as they added a winter track indoor Mercer County title and a spring track county title to the Mercer County Cross Country title it had won in the fall.
The Little Tigers had never won at indoor county title and hadn’t won an outdoor county title since 1982. But they put together dominating performances at both the indoor and outdoor meets to secure both titles.
At the indoor meet, Will Hare won the 3,200, Simon Schenk won the pole vault and Paul Brennan took first in the shot put, and Varun Narayan placed first in the long jump.
At the outdoor meet in the spring, Princeton won 10 of the 18 events to ease to the title. Narayan won the long jump and the triple jump at the meet, while Brennan won the shot put and discus. Matt Perello won the 100 meters, Nils Wildberg the 200 meters, Hare the 3,200 meters and Schenck the pole vault. The Little Tigers also finished first in the 4×100 and 4×800 relays.
4. Alec the Great: Princeton High wrestler Alec Bobchin put it all together for his junior season and checked off each of his goals one at a time.
Win a District 19 championship? Check. Win a Region 5 championship? Check. Reach the state tournament and place in the top eight? Check.
As a sophomore, Bobchin reached the state tournament but lost both of his matches. His return went much better as he became the first Little Tiger since Ian Reddy in 1993 to earn a spot in the top eight in the state.
Bobchin became the first Princeton wrestler in 12 years to win a region title when he topped A.J. Erven of Raritan, 5-0, in the championship match. He went on to compete at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, where he entered the tournament as the 12th seed at 138 pounds. After winning his opening match he fell into the consolation bracket with a loss before winning his way through the bracket to finish eighth in the state.
Bobchin finished the season with a 37-7 record and entered his senior season with 102 career victories.
3. Back to Back: The Montgomery High boys’ tennis team had suffered a pair of regular season losses to West Windsor-Plainsboro South. But when the teams met for the third time – this time in the Tournament of Champions final – the Cougars got the best of the Pirates and came away with their second straight Tournament of Champions state title.
The Cougars, who finished the season 24-2, had dropped a pair of 3-2 decisions to the Pirates during the season. James Hopper picked up a triumph at second singles, while Montgomery also swept the doubles as William Camper and Chris Guo won at first doubles and Andy Li and Rohit Vadodaria captured second doubles.
Montgomery successfully defended its Tournament of Champions title with three new players in the lineup. Ishaan Ravichander moved up from second singles to first singles, while Hopper and Philip Szkudlarski moved from doubles into the singles lineup. Guo was the one returning veteran in the doubles pairings.
The Cougars depth matched any team in the state as their doubles teams wound up the season facing each other for the state doubles championship, where Guo and Camper came away with a win. The two teams had both entered the state doubles final with unbeaten records.
2. Freshmen sensations: It was quite a fall for freshmen cross-country runners.
In Mercer County, Hun School freshman Charlotte Bednar piled up one amazing performance after another during a remarkable first season. The Princeton resident won the Mercer County championship, the state Prep A championship and the Mid-Atlantic Prep League title. She then added to her impressive campaign with a fourth-place finish at the Nike Northeast Regional and a 12th-place finish at the Nike Cross Nationals. The final performance earned the Raider freshman All-America honors.
At Montgomery High, Caroline Mehlhorn led a group of freshmen runners who have the Cougars poised for success for years to come. Mehlhorn won the Somerset County championship, the Central Jersey, Group 4 sectional meet, was fifth at the state Group 4 meet, and then capped off her season for the Cougars by finishing fifth at the Meet of Champions.
Mehlhorn was one of a number of freshmen who helped the Cougars to success this season. At the Group 4 state meet, Elizabeth Henderson, Annabelle Wang, Skyler Fong and Hedy Yang were also in the top seven for the Cougars this season as freshmen, helping Montgomery to a fifth-place at the Central Jersey, Group 4 meet and a berth in the state Group 4 meet.
1. A perfect 10: It has been more than 50 years since the Princeton University football team went through a season unbeaten. This year the Tigers managed to accomplish something no Princeton team had done since 1964, complete with the season with a 0 in the loss column. In the process, this year’s team became the school’s first to finish a season 10-0.
Princeton finished the season with the Ivy League title all to itself, capping the perfect season with a 42-14 win in the season finale at Princeton Stadium. It was the Tigers’ fourth outright Ivy title and first since 1995. The Tigers earned a share of the Ivy title in 2013 and 2016. It was also the program’s first perfect 7-0 Ivy League season since league play officially began in 1956.
The accolades poured in for the Tigers after the season as John Lovett was named the Bushnell Cup winner as the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year. The Maxwell Football Club announced that PU head coach Bob Surace was selected as the winner of the Club’s 21st Andy Talley Tri-State Coach of the Year Award, and that All-America quarterback Lovett was named the recipient of the Brian Westbrook Tri-State Player of the Year.