Although the Princeton Day School boys’ soccer team seized control of its game against visiting Solebury School (Pa.) by scoring three unanswered goals in the first 20 minutes of action, things remained lively on the PDS bench.

With new Panther head coach Ollie Hilliker inserting reserves into the game, the starting players cheered on the subs, encouraging their efforts, and generally yukking it up with each other as PDS rolled to a 5-0 victory.

In the view of senior defender and co-captain Coby Gibson, the display of camaraderie is a reflection of the upbeat mood around the program sparked by the arrival of Hilliker.

“You could see it on the sidelines here, we were having a good time,” said Gibson.

“Obviously it is not going to be like that every game but there is a sense of that, just making sure that people are connected and feel like a team. Even in the hallways, we are more together.”

In addition to bringing a team feeling to PDS, Hilliker has lifted his players’ self-belief as well.

“He has definitely been making sure that we are working our hardest, he made an emphasis on conditioning in the preseason,” said Gibson of Hilliker who is succeeding longtime head coach Malcolm Murphy.

“We knew that we wanted to have a winning season. Coach came in and said I have never not had a winning season and I want to make sure that we have another one here. You guys have the skill and if you guys work hard enough you can do it. It really gave us a boost of confidence. We have tried to be positive with each other.”

In the win over Solebury, PDS worked together well, controlling possession to stifle the Spartans.

“Yesterday we were working in practice on passing the ball with pace, making sure we were keeping the ball moving, looking for long balls and that is what we tried to do today,” said Gibson.

“We wanted to make sure that we kept it in their half and passed the ball around. We weren’t afraid of recovering the ball and getting it to the back line.”

The Panthers, who improved to 5-2-1 with a 3-1 win over South Hunterdon last Monday, have learned from their losses.

“It is making sure that we come back stronger and what our mistakes were and we can improve on them,” said Gibson, noting that the Panthers battled undefeated Pennington hard in a 5-2 defeat on September 12 that saw them trailing 2-1 at halftime. “We are just looking forward to having a good season.”

A key factor in the team’s success this fall is the partnership between Gibson and classmate and fellow captain Jack Amaral on the back line.

“Jack and I have gone to school together for the past 13 years; we have been friends for a long time,” said Gibson.

“He has played center back for a long time now, I have been shifting on and off. With Malcolm, I was playing more offense but I played defense in middle school. Jack and I work well together, we are both captains. We have talked about that and have tried to make sure that we are leading this team as best we can.”

In Gibson’s view, the PDS players need to focus on themselves and not their foes to keep going in the right direction.

“We are trying to go in with a similar mindset to this game, where we are trying to play our best and not worrying about the opponents,” said Gibson, who will look to keep the Panthers on the winning track as they play at Lawrenceville on October 1.

“We played that way in the first half against Pennington when the defense just moved together well, we communicated, and we passed the ball like we know we can.”