IN CONTROL: Princeton High boys’ soccer player Archie Smith controls the ball in action last year. Senior midfielder and team co-captain Smith will be counted on for his production and leadership this fall. PHS, the defending New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Group 4 state champion, is kicking off its 2024 campaign by hosting Hightstown on September 5. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Coming off a historic 2023 campaign that saw it go 22-2 on the way to winning the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Group 4 state title, the Princeton High boys’ soccer team knows that it has a big target on its back this fall.

Despite losing nine seniors to graduation from last year’s squad and with two other stars not coming back this year to play academy instead, PHS head coach Ryan Walsh believes his players won’t be fazed by wearing that bull’s eye.

“The guys know that every team is going to bring their best against us but they are really excited,” said Walsh, who is in his second year at the helm of the program. “These guys love the competition and they love the challenge.”

The Tigers will feature an exciting one-two punch at forward in senior co-captain Azariah Breitman (11 goals, 4 assists in 2023) and senior Brian Donis (4 goals) as they look to fill the void left by Pasquale Carusone, who scored 28 goals last fall in his senior season.

“They are looking sharp; Azariah was just voted one of the captains and is trying to take on a leadership role,” said Walsh. “They are both looking great. They have played some significant minutes over the last two years at the varsity level. In their sophomore year, they both started at forward so they played a lot of minutes together. It is an easy connection to rekindle.”

While PHS will miss Carusone’s production, Walsh believes that spreading out the scoring will make the Tigers dangerous.

“I think this year you are going to see a little more balanced scoring as opposed to last year where Pasquale scored most of the goals,” said Walsh, noting that junior Isaiah de la Espriella will also be seeing time at forward. “We have a lot of guys who are capable of scoring, that is sometimes hard to defend.”

In the midfield, senior co-captain Archie Smith (6 goals, 15 assists) will be hard to defend.

“Archie is going to score some goals for us too, he will play attacking center midfielder,” said Walsh. “He is looking fantastic and is taking on that leadership role with Azariah.”

Joining Smith in the midfield will be senior Derrick Leiva, junior Aaron Thyrum (1 goals, 3 assists), sophomore Kian Asiaie, senior Matt Chao (2 assists), and senior Theo Kristensen.

“Derrick came off the bench last year, he is currently playing the holding center midfielder,” said Walsh. “Aaron played for our varsity team last year, he is playing in midfield. We have Kian who is a talented player and is vying for a spot in the midfield. Matt is a senior, this is his third year on varsity, he will get some pretty good time in the midfield. Theo is a senior transfer and he will see some time.”

On defense, the pair of senior of Connor Hewitt (5 assists) and junior Chase Hamerschlag (5 goals, 2 assists), a converted forward, will be anchoring the back line.

“Connor is the experienced back,” said Walsh, who will also be playing senior Thomsen Lord in the defensive unit. “He is definitely our leader back there, he is playing like that right now. Chase right now is our center back. He has embraced it, it was his idea. He knew that we were losing a bunch of center backs with Nick [Matese] and Jamie [Reynolds] graduating and he thought it would be a good spot for him to move to and we agreed. All summer he trained there and he is playing pretty well. He will still go forward on set pieces.”

Senior goalie Nicolas Holmelund (107 saves in 2023) is playing very well and has taken on a big leadership role as a co-captain.

“Nick is rock solid, his experience last year is going to be huge to help rebuild our back four,” said Walsh. “We lost three defenders from last year’s championship team. Having Nick lead that back line, they have confidence that were they to make a mistake, Nick is there to bail them out. Hopefully we can limit the mistakes. Early on, there are going to be some mistakes. That is how we are going to learn fast. Nick started as a sophomore and last year he wasn’t taking a leadership role because we had so many seniors. This year, he came in at the end of the summer and he was fit, he was vocal. That is why the guys voted him captain. He is ready to lead that line.”

In Walsh’s view, the Tigers will be ready to excel once again by the time postseason play rolls around.

“These guys just need to take everything day-by-day,” said Walsh. “Last year’s team is last year’s team, we need to take that experience that we had last year and use it when times get tough. It is a long season, things change day-to-day and week-to-week. We will be a lot better in four weeks than we are right now. The guys need to understand that and everyday just get a little better so we are playing our best at tournament time like we were last year.”