BEST FOOT FORWARD: Princeton Day School boys’ soccer player Todd Devin, right, kicks the ball in a game last season. Last Friday, senior midfielder Devin scored two goals as sixth-seeded PDS fell to top-seeded Moorestown Friends on penalty kicks after the teams had tied at 3-3 through regulation and overtime in the final of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) South Jersey Non-Public B tournament. The defeat left the Panthers with a final record of 8-14. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Although the Princeton Day School boys’ soccer team brought a mediocre 5-13 record into the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) South Jersey Non-Public B tournament, Todd Devin was confident that the squad would be a tough out in the tourney.

“We started playing this tournament my freshman year and every year we are told at the beginning of the year no matter how the regular season goes, we can always make a run,” said PDS senior midfielder Devin. “That was pretty prevalent early in because we were playing in the Colonial Valley Conference (CVC) and we were playing the best teams. Five of seven teams went far in states. We know we are playing good competition through the whole season. We get to the state tournament and we always know that we have a chance to win and no game is out of our reach.”

PDS head coach Gary Roberts encouraged his players to believe in themselves.

“I was telling them the entire time that we are going to advance and we are going to keep winning,” said Roberts. “There is no doubt that we are prepared as well as anybody. No team that we are going to play in the tournament has played the schedule that we have played. I talked about getting better every day and our practices were better and better.”

The sixth-seeded Panthers advanced to the final with a run of three straight shutouts as they topped 11th-seeded Bishop Eustace 2-0 in the first round, edged third-seeded Doane 1-0 in the quarters and then beat second-seeded Wildwood Catholic 1-0 in the semifinal round.

Heading into the final at top-seeded Moorestown Friends last Friday, Devin and his classmates were determined to extend their PDS careers.

“We are a very senior heavy team, we didn’t really want the season to end because last year in the state tournament we had an earlier exit against St. Rose,” said Devin. “We were excited to have some games we could win early on. As long as we did our thing, we would get to the final so that was pretty exciting.”

The final turned out to be an exciting contest as the Foxes built a 2-0 lead early in the second half before PDS rallied with three straight goals as Devin found the back of the net twice. Moorestown Friends scored a late goal to force overtime. After neither team scored in the extra session, the game was decided on penalty kicks and the Foxes came through with a 3-0 edge on PKs to win the title.

Roberts won’t soon forgot the dramatic contest and how hard the Panthers battled as his team ended the fall at 8-14.

“First of all, it was the most exciting event, I have been part of in my 57 years of life, that includes winning the state championship at Hun,” said Roberts, who was an assistant coach for the Hun girls’ squad that beat Pennington in overtime in the 2021 Prep A state final. “This team relied on heart and guts. I would say Moorestown was a little bit better than us but in the match it was a 50-50 game. We had more territory than they did.”

Even though PDS trailed 1-0 at halftime, Roberts told his players to stay the course. “I said even if they score again, we are going to stick to what we are doing and we will be able to come back,” said Roberts. “I made that clear.”

After Moorestown went up 2-0, PDS got on the board with 15 minutes left in regulation as sophomore Keegan Fullman scored off a corner kick from senior Hart Nowakoski.

Devin then tallied two straight goals, one on a free kick with 13 minutes left and another with six minutes remaining as PDS forged ahead 3-2.

“I received the ball around midfield, I started dribbling and I knew the whole game they were doing smart, tactical fouls,” said Devin, reflecting on his free kick tally. “I got by the one kid and then he fouled me and I went down. It was a little far out from the goal. The goalie was on the smaller side so I knew if I kept the ball high it had a chance of going in. I didn’t focus that much on placement, I used a bit more power than I usually do. It went a little bit to the right of the goalie, up high just under the crossbar. When that goal went in, I think the whole team understood this is our game to win.”

On his second goal, Devin took advantage of a favorable bounce.

“Our game plan was to force the ball to one side, as the right center back kicked the ball off of Mark [Nahas],” said Devin. “It jumped and hit his back and the ball rolled slightly outside the box right where I was. It was left foot on the left side and I curled it and it ended up on the far right side.”

Even though the Foxes answered back to get the game into overtime the PDS players weren’t deflated.

“Everyone was pretty tired but we knew that this was one of the last games, we would be playing in our high school career,” said Devin. “I think our whole team was able to push through tiredness. We got the better side of the chances, the consensus was that it was going to go to PKs with teams that were playing defensively.”

While PDS ended up coming up short when the contest went to penalty kicks, Devin had no qualms about how the Panthers fought to the end. 

“Even though we lost that game, it was probably one of the most exciting games I have ever played in; it literally reminded me of the World Cup final,” said Devin. “Those last 20 minutes were crazy with four goals, they were obviously a good team. I think on paper, they were a little bit better than us. Obviously winning would have been the best. When the game ended we were all sad on the bus ride back but happy with the experience. I think every player played their best. We all had our best game, we all left it out on the field. No one had any regrets at the end.”

Roberts credited his senior group with leaving it all out on the field as they tried to keep the season going as long as possible.

“The seniors, Penn [von Zelowitz], Todd, Hart, Oren [Yakoby], Max [Schragger] and Mark [Nahas] all absolutely played their butts off,” said Roberts. “They could walk out of their last-ever high school game knowing that they did everything they possibly could from quality soccer to ugly soccer with their heart and work rate. It is the most brilliant loss you can deal with as a player and as a young man to help you go forward in life. You could not ask for anything more out of them. I hugged everybody after the game.”

Devin, for his part, is taking some valuable life lessons from his PDS career.

“I remember playing as a freshman and sophomore how physical it was,” said Devin. “I learned a lot about myself. There were times where I got banged up pretty bad but you have to keep pushing. Overall, any career was a fun time and I learned a lot. As a younger player, I learned the most from the older players. I was able to imitate that when I was older. My freshman year and my senior year were probably my two best years. It was good that I got to have some ups and downs. It wasn’t all just winning and all glory, I think that was really good for me.”

The battle with Moorestown Friends proved to be a microcosm of Devin’s high school soccer experience.

“The reason I really enjoyed the final game was because it felt like our team used everything we have learned over the last two years, especially the seniors,” said Devin. “It is understanding some of the mental side of the game like when you are 2-0 down anything can happen. It was a great game to encompass my high school career. It had everything, it was a really cool experience.”