GOOD RUN: Princeton High boys’ lacrosse player Matt DiTosto carries the ball up the field in recent action. Star defender DiTosto helped PHS win its first-ever county title and then advance to the South Jersey Group III sectional semifinals where it fell to powerful Shawnee 5-4 in overtime last Thursday. The loss left the Little Tigers with a final record of 16-4.
(Photo by Stephen Goldsmith)

This past winter, Matt DiTosto was primed for a big senior season for the Princeton High boys’ hockey team.

But high-scoring forward DiTosto broke his hand in December, missing several weeks and taking a while to get back up to speed upon his return.

With things not turning out as he had hoped on the ice, DiTosto brought a special sense of urgency this spring into his final campaign on the PHS boys’ lacrosse team.

“It was frustrating,” said DiTosto, referring to his hockey season. “I didn’t play varsity until last year for lacrosse. It means a lot to me and it means a lot to these other boys I have been playing with. We just want to see how far it takes us.”

DiTosto, a star defender for the Little Tigers’ lax team, helped PHS go far this season, as it won the program’s first-ever county title and then advanced to the South Jersey Group III sectional semifinals where it fell to powerful Shawnee 5-4 in overtime last Thursday.

“Our offense controls the ball a lot and the defense is finally sticking,” said DiTosto, after third-seeded PHS rolled to a 13-4 win over No. 6 Clearview in the sectional quarters on May 21.

“I think we are starting to play more defense which is important when we start going against these tougher teams. I love everyone on defense. I think we have been picking up each other’s slack and helping each other out. I think we are clicking on all cylinders.”

As a senior, DiTosto has gone out of his way to pick up his game. “I listen to my coaches; this year it was all about my footwork and staying in front of the offensive player,” said DiTosto.

“I feel like I have been doing that. I feel like I take a big leadership role on defense. I am a captain, huddling all the guys together, making sure we get our heads in the game and not get too out of it.

In the MCT title game victory over Allentown, DiTosto played a huge role, marking Redbird star Stefan Pappas and limiting him to one goal as the Little Tigers prevailed 10-4.

“It was a big moment for me,” said DiTosto, reflecting on his MCT title game effort.

“Pappas is a great player and I had the support of the defense behind me. That helps, that takes off some of the pressure. When you have got Colin Buckley sliding to a kid, I sure as heck wouldn’t want to be on the other end of that.”

PHS head coach Peter Stanton is proud of the way his squad played hard to the end.

“If you want to make a deep run, it is really a test of stamina and a test of will,” said Stanton, whose team posted a final record of 16-4.

“It is really challenging, coming down to the end of the school year, prom, and all these kinds of things and I am just so pleased that our boys really want to play lacrosse.”

Stanton was pleased with the way his offense clicked in the win over Clearview. “I know that they prepared for us; I know that some of the times when they see us play, we are just throwing the ball around,” said Stanton, noting that the Little Tigers had lost to Clearview in a preseason scrimmage.

“Today we dodged right at them, we got by them early and that was something that they didn’t expect.”

The PHS defensive unit ended up exceeding Stanton’s expectations.

“It is just really satisfying to see the level of improvement,” said Stanton.

“At the beginning of the year, we were giving up so many goals. It is just one of those things, I don’t know what comes first. Are the individuals improving or is their teamwork improving? It just seems to be one of those things where one doesn’t happen without the other.”

In Stanton’s view, winning the county crown helped spark PHS’s state tournament run.

“Sometimes you get a taste of success and you want a little bit more,” said Stanton.

“The risk of that is you might be like, well that was good enough and these guys are more of the former, they really want more.”

DiTosto, for his part, concurred, seeing the MCT triumph as prompting a hunger for more success.

“I definitely think it is a boost; winning the first one in school history,” said DiTosto, who is headed to St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia in the fall and is thinking about trying to walk on to the Hawks men’s lax team.

“We are able to share it together and I am sure everyone had that same mentality of we don’t want to quit.”