By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
There will be a new look at the top for the girls soccer programs at Montgomery High, West Windsor-Plainsboro North and WW-P South, as all three teams welcome new coaches this spring.
Meanwhile, Princeton High, Princeton Day School and the Hun School all return their head coaches with an eye on keeping their programs playing at a high level.
At Montgomery, junior varsity coach Jennifer Meier moves into the head coaching role, taking over a program that has known great success over the years. Meier, who played and has coached at Rider University, brings plenty of experience to her new position.
“I’ve played all my life growing up and I played at Rider,” said Meier, who teaches eighth grade math at the Montgomery Middle School. “I played forward for four years at Rider and when I got a teaching job at Montgomery Middle School I saw they were looking for a JV coach. After the varsity coach left this year I was able to move up to varsity.”
Meier, whom still volunteers as a coach at Rider, is excited about what Montgomery has to offer on the soccer field.
“We’re a pretty young team,” she said. “It is cool having my own program and I get to share my soccer experience with these girls. My goal is I want the girls to have best experience possible. I grew up playing soccer and I want to share my love of the game with them. Wins are great but you always remember the times you had with your friends and creating that team bond.
“The past two years we have not been above .500. I would like to go above .500 and hopefully make the third round of the county tournament.”
Meier plans to draw on all of her experience in soccer as she leads the Cougars, who will open the season on Sept. 8 against North Hunterdon.
“I still volunteer at Rider,” Meier said. “It has been a great learning experience learning from the two coaches I had over there. I had experience from a playing standpoint and now I see what they do behind the scenes. My class was the winningest class Rider has seen. And the year after mine they won the conference tournament and went to the NCAA. So it has been a successful program.”
Like Meier, new WW-P North head coach Darron Brown brings plenty of experience to his new position as head coach of the girls program, taking over for Kevin Mackenzie.
“So far it has been pretty good,” said Brown, whose coaching experience includes a stint with the WW-P South boys program. “I am excited about the year coming up. We have some exciting young freshmen that will hopefully step in and help out.
“We also have some very good veteran players. Emily Schmid just committed to George Washington and she will help out up top. Sierra Counts and Jillian Pelosi are two experienced midfielders who can score. And our leadership in back with senior Sara Carulli and Elise Gardner, they can anchor the back line.”
Brown, who played at Franklin High School and Rider University, has coached several club and travel teams. He brings over 20 years of coaching experience to the Knights in his first high school varsity head coaching assignment.
“I have been out of high school coaching a little while,” said Brown, who teaches computers in the WW-P elementary schools. “I was fortunate to hook back up with the New Jersey Rush and they have a great infrastructure and I learned a lot working with them. My academy teams have done well. I had the pleasure of working with an 2001 and 2000 team and our 2000 team is currently sixth in the state and went to State Cup finals.
“That gave me a real opportunity to coach at a higher level. I coached a couple West Windsor girls travel teams back when I was coaching with Brian Welsh at South. It’s nice to see those girls out of college and see them grow up and going to school and big jobs. You can see the big picture and see them grow into adults and make good choices. That is what coaching is all about.”
Brown has made his mark in the area as a coach at the travel level and now hopes to do the same with the Knights.
“I have been lucky enough to stay local and give back to the community,” he said. “I know a lot of people around Mercer County and I played for Russ Fager at Rider. I got started with Soccer Excellence USA at Rider and was fortunate enough that once I got a job in West Windsor as a teacher I hooked up with Bobby Smith and have helped him out as well. He runs a great academy program.”
Chris Trefz returns to coaching high school soccer as the new head coach at WW-P South. He spent some time coaching the girls JV team at South and is now back as the head coach of the Pirates.
“I used to coach at an all boys high school in North Jersey,” said Trefz, who teaches Biology and Human Anatomy at South. “I did a lot of training North Jersey and South Jersey. I did some training for Indian Mills and had coached my daughter for a while.
“I coached high school boys varsity soccer and when I first got to South I coached a couple years of JV girls.”
Trefz is looking to build the program for the Pirates and is pleased with the level of commitment from the players in the program.
“We have a good draw of about 40 girls who have come out,” Trefz said. “It is nice to get the kids prior to the season and get them out there and then out in the classroom.
“The freshmen we have will be helpful if not this year then in years to come. Lauren Small, who is the JV coach, been there for quite a while. It is great having her and seeing someone the girls know out on the field. With a new head coach, having Lauren keeps some stability and she is wonderful and has a good eye for coaching.”
At Princeton, Val Rodriguez has a young team that will be led by senior defender Zoe Tesone, as well as junior midfielders Colette Marciano and Devon Liz.
“We are young and building, looking forward to an exciting season,” Rodriguez said.
PDS looks to continue its streak of excellence under head coach Pat Trombetta. The Panthers top returning players include Grace Barbara in goal, as well as defender Madison Coyne, forward Damali Simon Ponte, and midfielder Madison McCaw. The newcomers to keep an eye on include defender Tulsi Pari, as well as midfielders Brianna Astbury and Ariana Jones.
“Our defense should keep us in most games,” Trombetta said. “We have two gifted athletes in the back in Grace and Madison. The challenge for us this season will be on the offensive end. If we find players to step up and find the back of the net we should be able to make another run at the State Prep title.”
Hun is two-years removed from the state Prep A title. The Raiders returning players include senior captains Abby Gray and Julia Salerno, as well as junior Kara Borden, Nicole Apuzzi, and Kendall Dandridge, and sophomore Leah Sutphen.
Newcomers include junior transfer Hannah Bunce and sophomore transfer Bryonna Worthy, as well as freshmen Nicole Angelini and Hannah Cavanaugh.
“We’ve had a good preseason and based on what I’m seeing so far, I’m fairly optimistic about the season,” Hun coach Joanna Hallac said. “We don’t have a whole lot of depth, but if we can stay healthy, I think we have a lot of returning talent and some key newcomers that can really help to bring us back to our championship form from 2014.”
