By Bill Alden

Something had to give as the Princeton High boys’ lacrosse team hosted Allentown in a Colonial Valley Conference showdown last Thursday.

PHS brought a six-game winning streak into the clash while Allentown had reeled off nine straight victories.

Tiger defender Lucas Kirby, for his part, brought some extra emotion into the contest as PHS held its annual Senior Day celebration before face-off.

“It was surreal walking through all of the sticks, realizing that this is my last regular season game,” said senior star Kirby.

“I have been with this program for four years, of course we lost last year. It means a lot.”

PHS appeared a bit distracted as they fell behind 3-1 midway through the first period.

“Coming into this, we wanted to get after them,” said Kirby, noting that PHS had lost 12-11 to the Redbirds earlier in the season.

“I think Senior Day got to us a little bit, we weren’t all there to start the game. They got us a little bit.”

Narrowing the gap to 8-7 at halftime, PHS seized momentum after the break, outscoring the Redbirds 4-1 to take an 11-9 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

“We started coming back in the third, we definitely won that third quarter,” said Kirby. “We did tighten up on defense.”

But the game got away from the Tigers as Allentown reeled off three unanswered goals in the first 5:40 of the fourth and never looked back on the way to a 14-11 win.

“We couldn’t possess the ball at the end,” said Kirby, reflecting on the setback which dropped PHS to 7-3. “Our slide was late on defense and they were shooting well today.”

With PHS facing Allentown on May 25 in the CVC semis and then starting play in the state tournament next week, Kirby and his teammates are ready for the final push.

“The coaches said the season starts today,” said Kirby. “This game is behind us and we are looking to the postseason. If they play how they have been playing and we play back up to what we are, we are going to see them again and we will be ready that time.”

In Kirby’s view, the squad’s defensive unit is ready to keep improving.

“The six games before this we really stepped it up, we held Notre Dame to six and they scored 11 on us the first time,” said Kirby.

“We are growing as a unit and we are becoming more comfortable.”

As a battle-tested senior, Kirby looks to guide things along the back line.

“I take the best attacker, I try to be a leader and tell these guys where to go,’ said Kirby. “Sometimes I get carried away with coaching.”

PHS head coach Chip Casto credited his senior class with showing good leadership collectively.

“They lived through that year off, that is a senior class that last played when they were sophomores,” said Casto, whose Class of 2021 includes Jack Lehman, Patrick McDonald, Austin Micale, Nevin Motto, Simon Sheppard, and Sid Suppiah in addition to Kirby.

“They made a special commitment to make a lot out of this year and play for last year’s seniors. It is a special group, they have given a lot. They have modeled the leadership that we are trying to get. They have been consistent with it and they are sending a good message to the young guys coming up.”

In assessing the loss to Allentown, Casto acknowledged that his team was plagued by some inconsistent play.

“It was good ball; they were ready to play, they do what they do very well,” said Casto. “We weren’t able to stop it, we made a thousand little mistakes.”

At halftime, Casto looked to have his players clean things up. “It was the same as always, just execute what we do,” said Casto. “We focus on the basics and fundamentals throughout halftime.”

After playing a strong third quarter and taking the 11-9 lead, PHS didn’t execute well down the stretch.

“We are man up and then all of a sudden the ball goes to the other end and they score,” said Casto, who got six goals from junior Will Doran in the loss with freshman Patrick Kenah adding three and senior McDonald chipping in two.

“We were just getting back-doored and losing our guy. They got a lot of easy goals, low effort goals. You can’t win a lot of games like that.”

In Casto’s view, his squad can gain some valuable lessons from the defeat.

“You try to use the loss as a learning tool and certainly they will use it as motivation to try to get back at these guys,” added Casto.

Casto will be counting on Kirby to help get the Tigers back on track.

“He always plays the top attackman so he has done a great job,” said Casto.

“He did a fantastic job at Notre Dame and did a pretty good job on their guy today. Lucas is our defensive core. He will bounce back, he is a great competitor. He is a great kid so he will be ready.”

Kirby and his classmates, for their part, are looking to produce a great ending to their PHS careers.

“There are seven of us on the team, we have two guaranteed games left,” said Kirby.

“It is leaving it all out on the field. We have great guys on offense as long as we can get them the ball, they score.”