By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The Princeton Day School boys lacrosse team has been through this before., A year ago the Panthers peaked at just the right time of the season and came away with championships in the Mercer County Tournament and the state Prep B tournament. This time around PDS has those same goals in mind as they head into the final week of the season., PDS reached the championship game of the MCT with an 11-4 win over Notre Dame in the semifinals on Tuesday. The win put the Panthers in Thursday’s schedule final against Princeton High. PDS is also set to face Newark Academy in the Prep B semifinals on Monday, with the championship game slated for Wednesday., “It was one of our goals at the beginning of the season, to get back to the preps and to MCTs,” said Panther senior defender Jack Amaral, who scored a goal in the win over Notre Dame. “So this is moving in the right direction. At the beginning of the season we talked about peaking at the right time. And I think we are definitely doing that right now.”, The Panthers came into both tournaments with the experience of being the defending champion. That experience showed as they jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead. PDS led, 5-2, at halftime and then pulled away and scored the final four goals of the game after taking a 7-4 lead into the fourth quarter., Elon Tuckman led the offense with four goals, while Colby Auslander added three goals in the win. Peter Shannon had two goals and Will Brossman added one in the win., “We know what the atmosphere is going to be like in these games,” Amaral said. “We have played a lot of the teams we are going to see already. We have a rematch with PHS, who we played earlier this season. I think having a lot of guys who we had on the team last year on this team really helps with that.”, PDS came away with a 5-4 win over the Little Tigers when the teams met earlier in the season. Like they have all season long, the Panthers will go into the final few games looking to win with a balanced team effort., “We pride ourselves on that,” Amaral said. “Our motto is ‘together.’ We are there for each other all the time. “We had a great season last year and we’re having a great season this year for my senior year which is nice.”, Amaral, who will attend Gettysburg College where he will play lacrosse next season, was part of a Prep B state championship soccer team in the fall. Now he and his fellow seniors will look to close out their careers with more tournament success., “It makes you appreciate it a lot more being your senior year,” he said. “This is the last time I will be on the field with a lot of these guys so I want to really cherish the moments and cherish those hard practices that you don’t really want to be at. It’s great being on the field with these guys. These are my brothers on and off the field.”
