ON THE BALL: Princeton High girls’ soccer player Sophia Lis, left, battles for the ball in recent action. Freshman forward Lis has helped spark the PHS offense this fall and scored a goal in a losing effort as the Little Tigers fell 5-1 to Nottingham last Monday. PHS, now 6-5-2, will start play in the Mercer County Tournament this week where it is seeded eighth and slated to host ninth-seeded Lawrence in an opening round contest on October 17. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

As a grade schooler, Sophia Lis helped out as a ball girl for the Princeton High girls’ soccer team, watching her older sisters Taylor and Devon star on the pitch for the Little Tigers.

Now as a freshman forward on PHS, Lis is following in her sisters’ footsteps.

“They teach me a lot, they are 100 percent my No. 1 role models and they are both so nice,” said Lis of Taylor, a junior midfielder for the Cornell women’s lacrosse program, and Devon, a freshman midfielder on the Georgetown women’s soccer team. “I played with them and tried to to get on their teams.”

Last week, Lis and her teammates tried hard to find the back of the net but came up short in a 3-0 loss to visiting Lawrence High on October 9.

“We worked together really well, we just couldn’t finish in the final third,” said Lis. “We definitely played hard. We fought as hard as we could but unfortunately we didn’t the result we wanted.”

The youthful Little Tigers gained some some valuable lessons from the setback.

“We take how they scored their goals and what we can learn from our mistakes,” said Lis. “We are definitely a growing team and we are definitely getting better as the season progresses.”

Reflecting on her debut campaign, Lis credits the support of her teammates with helping her get better.

“The team has been  awesome and so welcoming,” said Lis, who scored the lone goal for PHS as it fell 5-1 to Nottingham last Monday to move to 6-5-2.

“They have been just so kind to me. They are giving me the best passes and they are really motivating me as a player. It is whole new experience, but luckily I am with the right crowd.”

Lis showed that the right stuff as she scored all three goals for PHS in a 3-2 win over Hightstown on October 3.

“I will remember how hard we worked for all of those goals and how hard the team kept pushing on even through the other team kept scoring back on us,” said Lis, reflecting on her performance against the Rams.

In assessing the loss to Lawrence, PHS head coach Val Rodriguez lamented her team’s failure to score.

“We didn’t play to our strengths; we generated some chances,” said Rodriguez. “We had one really, really great chance in the first half and sometimes when one of those great chances don’t convert, it is deflating. We didn’t play as connected as we needed to be.”

The Little Tigers showed some fire in the early stages of the second half but it was to no avail.

“We came out strong in the beginning of the second half,” said Rodriguez. “We had some good leadership and communication happening on the field for the first 15-20 minutes and then it went back to not as organized as it should have been.”

Junior Shaylah Marciano showed strength at both ends of the field, playing goalie in the first half and then moving to the attack in the second half.

“She had some great saves in the first half,” said Rodriguez. “Her communication and leadership on the field is contagious and she is the cause of the lift that we had in the beginning of the the second half.”

The arrival of Lis has been giving the Little Tigers a lift. “Sophia is a true team player; she knows where to be to support her teammates and she knows where her teammates are supposed to be in supporting her,” said Rodriguez.

“She distributes, she feeds, and she is composed when she scores goals. She is a workhorse and is selfless. She has a lot of potential as a person and as a player.”

Rodriguez is hoping to see a more composed performance from her team as it gets a rematch with Lawrence in the Mercer County Tournament where it is seeded eighth and slated to host ninth-seeded Cardinals in an opening round contest on October 17.

“We need to more consistent, we need to be the team that we know we can be,” said Rodriguez. “We need to be playing our game and not having dips at the end of the season. We should be full stride right now leading into tournaments.”

In order to hit full stride, the Little Tigers need to pay attention to the basics.

“We need to get back to taking care of the the details that goes from managerial stuff like showing up at practice on time and being ready to work hard from the start to just building as a team and attacking with numbers up,” said Rodriguez.

“There are always going to be ups and downs. It is a young team and the confidence in some of them that we didn’t see last year is shining and we are seeing some really great things.”

Lis, for her part, believes that PHS can shine in postseason play. “We have been working together really well; we just have to finish the ball,” said Lis.

“We need to work on our shot placement. Overall, I think our team is great and we are heading in the right direction.”