GETTING AFTER IT: Princeton Day School girls’ soccer player Ella McLaren, left, chases down a ball in recent action. Junior defender McLaren has been leading the back line for PDS this fall. The Panthers, who fell 3-0 to Shawnee last Friday to move to 5-4-1, play at Trenton Central on October 10 and at Allentown on October 15. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Ella McLaren moved to center back from midfield last fall for the Princeton Day School girls’ soccer team and formed a partnership with Tochi Owunna.

With the pair anchoring the PDS back line to stifle foes, the Panthers caught fire down the stretch, winning the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Non-Public A state title, blanking Mount St. Dominic 2-0 in the final.

With Owunna having graduated, junior McLaren has assumed a leading role on the back line this fall.

“I have become almost the Tochi on this team — it is big shoes to fill,” said McLaren. “I like the leadership role in the back. I like being able to control the field from the back. I like playing center back.”

Last week as PDS played at Hopewell Valley, McLaren was scrambling as the Bulldogs controlled possession in the first half and built a 1-0 lead by intermission.

“We were under a lot of pressure, we all worked well together,” said McLaren. “We had to make some adjustments. We figured it out other than the one goal we gave up. I think we did a good job of containing them, working with each other.”

At halftime of the October 1 contest, the Panthers did some soul-searching. “We needed to get our composure and play our game, we needed to bring intensity,” said McLaren, reflecting on the message the players received from head coach Chris Pettit during the break. “We were getting beat to everything.”

Taking those words to heart, PDS displayed plenty of intensity in the second half, continually pushing forward and keeping the Bulldogs on their heels.

“I think we grew on that in the second half,” said McLaren, who moved up the field from her center back spot and was jumping into the attack. “We definitely did pick it up, almost a little bit a little too much. There were wild shots, rushed chances, and rushed throw-ins.”

While PDS ended up falling by that 1-0 margin, McLaren liked the way the Panthers battled.

“We definitely could have slowed it down a little bit, grab our composure, but I am happy that we did bring up the intensity,” said McLaren.

With Panthers having brought a five-game winning streak into the game after starting the season at 0-2-1, McLaren believes the squad is headed in the right direction.

“I think once we beat Lawrence (a 2-1 win on September 19) we were able to grab our momentum back,” said McLaren. “We just needed to believe in ourselves. Once we got the win under our belt, I really feel like it motivated us. It stinks that we couldn’t get Hopewell today. It is something to grow on, we are going to learn from this.”

PDS head coach Chris Pettit acknowledged that his squad didn’t have momentum in the first half against HoVal.

“I thought it was going to be a good game coming in,” said Pettit. “Our first half was very unlike us, credit to Hopewell. It was a relatively even game in terms of end-to-end but they won every first, second and third ball. For essentially 40 minutes, we never won one.”

While Pettit liked the way the Panthers raised their intensity level in the second half, things were a bit helter-skelter.

“In the second half, we really brought the intensity and had them penned in but unfortunately we forgot the composure,” said Pettit. “That is a key part of how we play, passing it around, but we were just dumping the ball. We were rushing throws. We almost played with too much intensity and forgot about that composure. That is today’s lesson hopefully.”

Pettit appreciated McLaren’s effort in the contest.

“In the first half, Ella was phenomenal,” said Pettit. “That is why we tried to move her a little higher up the field. I thought that was positive.”

Looking forward, Pettit is hoping that the loss to HoVal can turn out to be a positive in the long run for the Panthers.

“You never get the right to just come out and win a game, you have to earn it,” said Pettit, whose team fell 3-0 to undefeated Shawnee last Friday to move to 5-4-1 and plays at Trenton Central on October 10 and at Allentown on October 15. “I felt like in the first half, we were maybe a little complacent. I am not really sure what it was. It is good to have those lessons. I just said to the girls, ‘We had those lessons last year, we made some adjustments and we figured it all out at the right time.’ That is the challenge for this team to start trying to learn that.”

McLaren, for her part, believes that PDS will figure things out.

“We are still growing this season, we have only played nine games,” said McLaren. “There is so much to grow on this season. Last season I think we peaked at the right moment. We are still figuring out how we are playing.”