MILESTONE MOMENTS: Princeton Day School boys’ lacrosse player Jonah Tuckman celebrates during the Mercer County Tournament championship game. Senior star and co-captain Tuckman scored five goals and had an assist to help first-seeded PDS top third-seeded Robbinsville 17-8 in the title game as the program earned its first-ever county crown. Tuckman hit the 100-goal mark in his career with his performance. Tuckman also starred in the MCT semis, tallying two goals and an assist as the Panthers edged fifth-seeded and defending champions Hopewell Valley 4-3. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Playing at nemesis Hopewell Valley in the Mercer County Tournament semifinals last week, the Princeton Day School boys’ lacrosse team misfired in the early going.

Having lost to HoVal in the MCT finals last year, first-seeded PDS found itself knotted in a scoreless tie with the fifth-seeded Bulldogs early in the second quarter of the May 10 contest.

“We prepared a lot coming into this game and I guess the jitters kind of just hit in under the lights at Hopewell,” said PDS senior star and co-captain Jonah Tuckman. “It took us a while for things to hit in.”

Early in the second quarter, Tuckman hit the back of the net for the first goal of the contest as he fired in a feed from classmate and co-captain Connor Fletcher.

“Fletch went to goal and fed me,” recalled Tuckman. “We scouted Lyle (Healey) well, we knew what to do. We have been playing against him for four years. I saw him go low and I just put it in the goal.”

About five minutes later, Tuckman added another goal as PDS took a 2-0 lead at halftime.

“I think that it was definitely big for us,” said Tuckman, reflecting on getting the second goal. “We have been a huge defensive team all year. We knew our defense was going to stick in there.”

HoVal stuck to its guns, tying the game at 3-3 with 7:46 left in the fourth quarter. But PDS survived the challenge as Fletcher scored on a one-man drive to the goal with 6:25 left in regulation and the Panthers prevailed 4-3.

“We knew they were going to make a run, we said it in the huddle, there is no shock that they are not going to let us win this game and go on the finals,” said Tuckman, who ended up with two goals and an assist on the evening.

“I think we were emotionally ready for it and we did well. Connor made a great play and I think we all just played together. We have been preaching that for the past two years, when everyone is playing together you can’t be beat.”

Overcoming HoVal was a major confidence builder for PDS, which went on to roll to a 17-8 win over third-seeded Robbinsville in the MCT title game two nights later.

“It was huge to beat Hopewell; we know a lot of these guys, we have been playing together for a while and ever since last year we have had this circled on our schedule,” said the Vassar-bound Tuckman, who scored five goals in the final, including the 100th of his career.

“We were getting updates about their quarterfinal game against Notre Dame and when we saw that they had won, we were excited. There was a sense of excitement and right after that it was preparation.”

In reflecting on Tuckman’s impact after the title game, PDS head coach Rich D’Andrea credits him with keeping things together in the big moments.

“These boys are lucky to have had Jonah as a senior captain and a senior leader,” said D’Andrea, whose team, now 14-1, will go for a second title this spring when it hosts the state Prep B finals on May 18 against Montclair Kimberley. “You talk about having a big game in a big spot. Jonah is one of those guys you would expect that from at this point because he is the kid that he is.”

For Tuckman, being one of the guys on the squad is the most meaningful thing to him.

“This is the closest team I have ever played with,” asserted Tuckman. “When we were down in Florida for preseason, we did a really great program called HoganLax and coach Cottle (former Maryland head coach Dave Cottle) came up to us after and he said ‘you guys have a ton of talented players but I have never seen a team this close before.’ He picked out Coby Auslander, a freshman on our team, and how we were picking him up the whole week. He said he has never seen a team do that, a freshman walking out with seniors off the bus and just a team that was just this close-knit. I think that is really the strongest suit.”