MAKING A POINT: Princeton High boys’ soccer player Noah Lapoint clears the ball in recent action. Last Saturday, senior defender Lapoint helped key the back line as fourth-seeded PHS blanked 12th-seeded Hun 1-0 in the Mercer County Tournament quarterfinals. On Monday, the Tigers couldn’t hold the fort as they fell 5-2 to top-seeded Notre Dame in the MCT semis. The Tigers, now 12-6, will host Hopewell Valley on October 25 and then start play in the state tournament. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

As the Princeton High boys’ soccer team hosted Hun School in the Mercer County Tournament quarterfinals last Saturday, it followed the formula that has led to so much postseason success for the program.

Fourth-seeded PHS got a first half goal from Nick Petruso to take the lead over 12th-seeded Hun and made that goal hold up in a 1-0 victory as a stingy Tiger defense stymied the Raiders.

“One of the things we have tried to do throughout the season is to get an early goal and then I think our defense can carry us through the rest of the game,” said PHS senior defender Noah Lapoint.

“You can see when we are playing, we let them come to us and we know when to press. We know what we are doing back there and I think that is one of our strengths.”

Lapoint acknowledged that things got dicey as Hun pressed forward in the second half, generating several corner kicks.

“They had a lot of height, it was a little nerve-wracking,” added Lapoint.

“At the end of the day, we have a lot of young kids who really want to win and so they are going to do whatever they can to stay with their matchup. We still have confidence in the box even though we are not one of the bigger teams.”

As one of the few seniors on the PHS roster this fall, Lapoint is looking to give guidance to the squad’s younger players.

“It is showing them around, I was here last year so I know what is going on,” said Lapoint. “We have a lot of young talent. I am nurturing them because they could be a really good team next year. It is teaching them leadership.”

The Tigers have shown that they can be a good team this fall, improving markedly in terms of ball movement.

“Our midfield has gotten so much better; towards the beginning of the season it was hard to string passes together,” said Lapoint.

“Nick was the focal point of everything; now we have gotten much better at swinging the ball.”

PHS head coach Wayne Sutcliffe sensed that Hun was going to make things hard on his squad.

“It is a derby, we haven’t played Hun in several years so it was a little more tricky, unpredictable day,” said Sutcliffe.

Predictably, the PHS back line held the fort in crunch time. “The defense has been great; we have gone two straight games without conceding and that takes a lot of hard work, conviction, and intelligence,” said Sutcliffe.

Lapoint’s intelligent play has been a big plus for the Tigers. “Noah is the only senior on the field and he has done well,” said Sutcliffe.

“He gives us another dimension on the right side because he can get into the attack when the opportunity presents itself.”

Junior star Petruso has given PHS another dimension on attack.

“Nick is a finisher, he is a good goal scorer,” said Sutcliffe. “We are getting one from him each game, he is having a great season.”

While PHS didn’t have a great night last Monday evening as it fell 5-2 to top-seeded Notre Dame in the MCT semis to move to 12-6, Sutcliffe believes his team is headed in the right direction.

“We want to try and build and make it into something that we can look back on and say we won a price of silverware — that is how you measure it all,” said Sutcliffe, whose team will host Hopewell Valley on October 25 before starting play in the state public tournament.

“We are such a young team and we couldn’t ask for much more from them.The progress has been great. If you want to win something, you have to be beyond your years when you are this young. If you have eight or 10 seniors, that is a completely different story. It has been great. I am very happy indeed.”

In Lapoint’s view, making it to the MCT semis was a great step for the Tigers.

“This is really good; last year we did really well but there were a couple of bad tournament games,” said Lapoint. “This is what we like to see; this is a more characteristic season for us.”