HANGING TOGETHER: Princeton Day School boys’ lacrosse player Jacob Shavel, center, celebrates with teammates after a goal. Last Thursday, senior star and RPI-bound Shavel tallied two goals and an assist in a losing cause as third-seeded PDS fell 9-7 to top-seeded Hopewell Valley in the Mercer County Tournament championship game. The Panthers, who also advanced to the state Prep B semifinals, finished the spring with an 11-7 record. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

After it was over, there were just the sounds of muffled voices and the thuds from one bear hug after another.

In the wake of its season-ending 9-7 loss to Hopewell Valley in the Mercer County Tournament championship game last Thursday, the Princeton Day School boys’ lacrosse team observed its tradition of thanking its seniors.

The five members of the squad’s Class of 2015 stood together on one side of the field at Princeton High and the rest of the players and the coaches solemnly went through one by one, hugging and consoling each other after the tough loss.

For senior attackman Jacob Shavel, the appreciation was a two-way street.

“It is just thanking the seniors for all they have done,” said Shavel, whose classmates on the squad included Chris Azzarello, Chris Markey, Christian Vik, and Kevin Towle.

“Honestly I wish it could be the other way, I want to thank these guys for all they have done for me. It has been the most incredible year of my life playing with these guys.”

It was a tough year for the squad as it suffered some tough losses on and off the field.

“I think it centers around Jonah and Elon Tuckman,” said Shavel, referring to the brothers whose mother passed away during the season after a long battle with cancer.

“They are the heart and soul of this team, what they have gone through this year, the amount of resilience and courage those two guys have displayed, honestly, is beyond incredible. It has been the heart and drive of this whole team. They are the core.”

PDS showed heart in the loss to HoVal as it was tied 3-3 at half and 5-5 heading into the fourth quarter, said RPI-bound Shavel, who had two goals and an assist in the defeat which left the Panthers with a final record of 11-7.

“We always give it our all,” said Shavel. They got a few looks, the ref gave them a few calls, that is how it went. We didn’t get the amount of looks we would have liked. We didn’t get the result we wanted.”

While the final result was disappointing, Shavel and his classmates, who are all going on to play college lacrosse, forged deep bonds.

“The five of us have been through a lot these past four years and we have done it together, every single day out there working,” said Shavel.

We were out in the middle of the winter, shooting after shoveling snow off the turf. These are four guys I know are going to be my brothers for life. I wish them all the luck as we all go and play against each other the next four years.”

In Shavel’s view, there are some good years ahead for the PDS program. “I think that anyone betting against this program is completely wrong at this point,” said Shavel.

“We have proven in the past few years how we can grow. I wouldn’t want to play against us if I was anyone else right now.”

PDS first-year head coach Rich D’Andrea was proud of the way his team grew over the course of the season.

“We knew it was going to be a tough year going in when we added some pretty competitive teams to our schedule,” said a subdued D’Andrea, speaking barely above a whisper.

“I can’t be more proud of these guys, they battled through it. They stayed together the entire time and ended up learning a lot about themselves in the process.”

PDS stayed together against HoVal but fell short as the Bulldogs scored two goals over the last three minutes of the contest to pull out the victory.

“They played hard today, it didn’t go how we wanted it to go,” said D’Andrea, who got a goal apiece from Azzarello, Joey Levine, Will Brossman and the Tuckman bothers.

“We were a man down a bunch, a couple of breaks didn’t go our way. You have to give Hopewell a lot of credit; coach (Rich) Siris had his guys ready to go and they did a great job.”

In D’Andrea’s view, his seniors did a great job over their four years with the program.

“It is a special group here, it is actually my first group that I came in with,” said D’Andrea, who was an assistant coach with the program before taking the helm.

“It has been a neat process for me to see them go and grow into the young men that they are right now. They are tremendous leaders. All five of them are starters, all five of them are impact players. All five of them are going on to play in college and all five colleges are lucky to have them.”

With a number of good players returning, D’Andrea expects PDS to make an impact over the next few years.

“We have some nice pieces in place over the last few years here,” said D’Andrea.

“It is one of the neat things with such strong leadership at the top from the juniors and seniors, the younger guys feed on that. They know what the program’s expectations are and they know they have to work hard if they want to find a place with us.”

Shavel, for his part, found a special place in the PDS program. “This team is really a band of brothers, the stuff that we have gone through this year as a team has forged us together,” said Shavel.

“You look at these pink shirts we are wearing and those are shirts these guys are going to wear the rest of their lives. This is my team for the rest of my life.”