PANTHER PRIDE: Princeton Day School boys’ lacrosse player Joey Levine enjoys the moment after top-seeded PDS defeated Robbinsville 17-8 in the Mercer County Tournament championship game last Thursday at WW/P-N. Senior star Levine scored four goals to help the Panthers earn the program’s first-ever county crown. PDS improved to 14-1 with a 15-3 win over Morristown-Beard last Monday in the state Prep B semis, and will go for a second title when it hosts Montclair Kimberley in the championship game on May 18. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

In the view of Joey Levine, reading the backs of the t-shirts worn by the Princeton Day School boys’ lacrosse team is all one needs to do in order to understand how the squad rolled to its first-ever Mercer County Tournament title.

“I think this is one of the tightest knit groups I have ever been a part of; it says it on the back of our shirts, together,” said senior attackman Levine, after top-seeded PDS routed third-seeded Robbinsville 17-8 in the MCT title game last Thursday night at WW/P-N.

“We played in our system, no one was selfish tonight and that really paid off for us. You saw that in the beginning with the ball movement.”

The Panthers reeled off four unanswered goals in the first five minutes of the championship game and were up 10-3 at halftime.

“I think coming into this one we were ready to come out firing,” said Levine, reflecting on the team’s early run which saw him score three goals. “We had a lot of emotion. We have never won the MCT.”

While Levine was proud of his performance, he credited his teammates with setting him up around goal.

“I couldn’t be more grateful to be a part of having six guys on the field offensively who can all handle their own with multi-digit numbers for us,” said Levine, who ended up with four goals and an assist in the win.

“There is no one star, we have multiple stars and they are facilitators. Playing on that kind of an offense is a dream come true for me. It is really special.”

Winning the title was a dream come true for a PDS squad that fell 9-7 to Hopewell Valley in the 2015 MCT final.

“We were here last year and we came away with a tight loss and that was definitely disappointing,” said Levine.

“So to come away with a win now is so special in my senior year. It is the last time we get to do this and to come away with a big win is just unbelievable for me and something I will never forget.”

Levine will also never forget the bonds he has formed with his teammates.

“We do everything together,” added Levine. “I am playing on a team with all of my best friends. It is really unbelievable and it is not just us, it is our parents too. We treat each other like brothers, I have another 20 something brothers on the team. That definitely makes it special and on top of that, it is our work ethic. We come out every day ready to work hard, no one is pushing us but ourselves. We are pushing each other and if we see someone who is not working hard, we are going to get on them about it but in a positive way.”

PDS head coach Rich D’Andrea has been pushing his squad toward the postseason since the beginning of the spring.

“We have put an emphasis on the end of the year and so we have had some big games during the course of the year,” said D’Andrea, whose team topped Morristown-Beard 15-3 in the state Prep B semis last Monday to improve to 14-1 and will host  Montclair Kimberley in the final on May 18.

“This has been the target the whole time, the Mercer County and the Prep Bs. We have some work to do on the other end of this but for these guys to come in here and play against the competition we played against and to pull it out, that is special.”

Like Levine, D’Andrea sees the Panthers as exuding a special togetherness.

“I don’t know if I have ever coached a group of kids that has each other’s backs better than these guys have,” said D’Andrea. “They really treat each other like brothers and I think for any successful program that what you need is for everyone to go to bat for one another.”

That unity was evident in PDS’s balanced attack in the win over Robbinsville as senior star Fletcher had three goals and four assists with classmate Jonah Tuckman chipping in five goals and an assist, freshman Coby Auslander contributing a goal and three assists, junior Will Brossman firing in two goals and sophomore Elon Tuckman adding two goals and an assist.

“It was really unselfish play today,” said D’Andrea. “Joey has a nose for space and he has a way of finding the seams in the defense. Connor is the guy we have run at mid and you look at the frame of that guy, 6’4, 200 and whatever pounds, he is a force. He commands a lot of respect on the field.”

The Panther defense commanded its end of the field. “I have coached with Rob Tuckman my entire time at PDS and he does a great job with the defense,” said D’Andrea.

“They know how to pressure hands, he always knows the personnel going into these games so these guys were well scouted going into tonight and that was the game plan.”

Levine, for his part, believes that PDS has a great chance to earn a second title when they battle MKA on Wednesday, seeing no letdown from the MCT run.

“We have had some big wins, especially earlier in the season,” said Levine.

“That has definitely given us experience with just keeping it all on the field and continuing to work, playing our game, and playing within the systems. We’ll be fine.”