By Bill Alden

On paper, it looked to be a total mismatch when the 15th-seeded Hun School field hockey team played at second-seeded Princeton High in the opening round of the Mercer County Tournament last Friday.

Hun entered the game with a 2-7 record, having lost 7-0 at Blair and 6-0 at Princeton Day School in the previous week while PHS brought an unblemished  11-0 mark into the matchup.

But the Raiders refused to roll over, displaying a tenacious defense led by senior goalie M.C. Shea that thwarted the high-powered Little Tigers for much of the first half as PHS only managed one goal to take a 1-0 lead into intermission.

Hun held the Little Tigers scoreless the first 19:24 of the second half to keep it a one-goal contest before PHS did tally. That score opened the floodgates as the Little Tigers pulled away to a 5-0 victory.

While Hun head coach Kathy Quirk had hoped for a different result, she had no qualms with her team’s effort.

“We played a great game until the last 10 minutes, we really played well,” said Quirk.

Shea sparkled in the cage, recording nine saves, several of them coming on point blank shots. “M.C. did a nice job,” said Quirk. “She rose to the occasion. At halftime, she said I am having fun.”

PHS head coach Heather Serverson acknowledged that the Raiders did a nice job in pushing the Little Tigers for the first 50 minutes of the game.

“Clearly Hun wanted it; they brought their A-game,” said Serverson. “They didn’t just let us have it.”

Quirk, for her part, wants her squad to build on its gritty effort against the Little Tigers.

“We have been struggling all season, so to play as well as we did, it is a great accomplishment,” said Quirk, whose team fell 7-0 at Hill School (Pa.) last Saturday to move to 2-9 and now plays at Ewing on October 18 before hosting Lawrenceville  School on October 20. “Each game has gotten better and better.”