HUSTLE PLAY: Princeton High field hockey player Trish Reilly races up the field in a game earlier this season. Last Saturday, junior midfielder Reilly contributed an assist to help PHS top Stuart Country Day 4-0. The Little Tigers, now 6-1, play at Lawrenceville on September 24, host Lawrence High on September 26, and play at WW/P-N on September 29. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

As the Princeton High field hockey team hit the field Saturday to host Stuart Country Day, it was riding a wave of emotion from the weekend’s Homecoming festivities.

“We were fired up with the whole entire homecoming aspect,” said PHS junior midfielder Trish Reilly.

“We started getting fired up last night so we were ready to go. We just wanted to get an early lead. Stuart is a strong team and we know they are aggressive. We definitely wanted to get some goals in the net before they got going.”

Reilly helped PHS get on the board early, setting up a Lucy Herring goal five minutes into the contest.

“Lucy and I do a lot of cross ball drills in practice,” said Reilly. “She is just always in the right pocket and in the right place at the right time. It is nice; I know where she will be without even having to look.”

The Little Tigers looked formidable all afternoon long as they pulled away to a 4-0 win over Stuart.

“We kept our composure which we are trying to work on,” said Reilly. “We had positive energy.”

Reilly brings energy all over the field for PHS. “I am almost like the assistant to both offense and defense,” explained Reilly, who tallied a goal and an assist on Monday as PHS toped Hopewell Valley 4-1 to improve to 6-1.

“I have Georgia [McLean] or Kennedy [Corrado] behind me and I am always trying to help them so they can get a great tackle. Or I am feeding it up the field to Avery [Peterson] and Campbell [McDonald] so they can get a good shot.”

PHS head coach Heather Serverson likes the way Reilly contributes all over the field.

“Trish is great on the right side offensively,” said Serverson. “She is able to get the ball up and down the right corner and cross it for us. Plus she is always hustling back on defense. She is the first midfielder to mark; she is everywhere.”

Senior forward Lucy Herring, who scored two goals in the win over Stuart, has been on the mark all season.

“Part of the key for Lucy is that she played a little bit of midfield for us last year and ever since then it’s really enhanced her center forward position,” said Serverson.

“She always comes back to help as a forward and that is a hard thing to get them trained to do. Plus, she is always talking. She is really aware of options once she has the ball in the circle, which is one of the places where most players lose their composure. She is able to maintain that.”

Serverson also liked the way senior Campbell McDonald came through in the circle on Saturday as she scored PHS’s two other goals.

“It was nice, especially because she is coming off that injury,” said Serverson. “She pulled a hamstring so she is finally able to get down the field quickly like she used to be able to. Her stick has been on lately too, she caught quite a few that were going to go out of bounds. She caught them right on the edge there so that was great.”

In Serverson’s view, her team’s quick start against Stuart was another encouraging sign.

“I am just happy that we are able to go out and start a game with intensity,” said Serverson, whose team plays at Lawrenceville on September 24, hosts Lawrence High on September 26, and plays at WW/P-N on September 29.

“In our previous games, we came out flat or areas of the field were flat. But today everyone was on the same page at the same time and that is something we have really been working on. I am so proud of them for that.”

Reilly, for her part, is confident that the Little Tigers will keep bringing the intensity.

“We definitely want to go far this season,” said Reilly. “The focus is capitalizing and just starting out strong. We want to capitalize on our corners a lot more. We are good at getting those but we want to finish them.”