FAST LANE: Princeton Day School girls’ soccer Kelsey Lane goes after the ball as PDS faced Pennington in the Mercer County Tournament semifinals last week. Senior defender Lane spearheaded the back line as the sixth-seeded Panthers battled valiantly in falling 2-0 to the second-seeded and eventual champion Red Raiders. PDS produced another superb defensive effort last Thursday as the top-seeded Panthers edged fifth-seeded Morristown-Beard 1-0 in the state Prep B semifinals. PDS, now 13-4-1, will host second-seeded Montclair Kimberly Academy in the Prep B final on October 31. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Blood streamed down Kelsey Lane’s face after taking an elbow to the nose as Princeton Day School girls’ soccer team battled Pennington in the first half of the Mercer County Tournament semifinals last week.

PDS senior defender Lane wasn’t about to let the knock keep her out of the action.

“It shocked me at first and I was ‘oh my god please don’t be broken,’” said Lane. “I got up and it was ‘don’t get blood on the jersey and then we are good and get back in the game.’”

The Panthers needed to make a very good defensive effort as sixth-seeded PDS looked to make amends after having fallen 4-0 to the second-seeded Red Raiders in a regular season contest on October 13.

“Tonight we really focused on minimizing our mistakes,” said Lane. “We changed the way our formation was working. We had the same general formation but we were a little more defensive minded and then attacking second. They have the speed on us, so we had to figure out how to counteract their speed. We did that by pulling back a little bit.”

PDS counteracted the Red Raiders for most of the contest but ended up falling 2-0 to the eventual champion.

“It worked for the most part, but of course, they have their speed and good shots,” said Lane.

Lane worked hard on the back line to help the Panthers hold the fort. “I sweep a little more; I was looking when one of our other backs got beat, it was my job to get around it,” said Lane.

“If I was to get beat, they would do the same thing for me. It was just getting back so if they did get those long balls over, it was just to cover ground.”

Lane credited junior goalie Riley Felsher with covering repeatedly for the Panthers as she recorded 15 saves in the contest.

“Riley really stepped up last year, but even from then, she has played amazing,” said Lane.

“She is really stepping up; she has had an amazing season. On some of those saves I say to her ‘I have no idea how you did that but thank you, you just covered for me.’”

In Lane’s view, PDS stepped up by advancing to the MCT semis. “I think when the coaches were ranking us, they underestimated us; we had an incredibly hard schedule this year,” said Lane, who helped the Panthers advance in another tournament as first-seeded PDS edged fifth-seeded Morristown-Beard 1-0 in the state Prep B semis last Thursday and improved to 13-4-1.

“We did really well even though we didn’t get the results we wanted against every team. Our schedule was preparing us for this tournament. If we had an easier schedule, I don’t think we would have done as well as we did. We bonded as a team  through those hardships like coming back when in games when were 2-0 down and winning. That really built us up and we got to figure out each other’s strengths and working really hard for each other.”

PDS head coach Pat Trombetta liked the way his players worked in the rematch against Pennington.

“We gave them a different look; we tried to play more defensive-minded and counter a little bit more this game,” said Trombetta.

“We held them pretty good; I don’t know how many D-1 commits they have on that roster. Our girls played with a lot of heart and energy.”

Trombetta wasn’t surprised to see Lane play with heart against Pennington.

“Kelsey is blue collar; she will get hurt and then she is looking to get right back in the game,” said Trombetta.

“It happened in the last Pennington game; she hurt her back and came off on a cart and came back. Kelsey played well tonight.”

Goalie Felsher also played very well in the game. “We saw it last year; she rises to the occasion,” said Trombetta.

“As the season goes on in the big games, she kept us in the game. She has been playing fantastic for us lately. She had a great game for us against Notre Dame last Saturday (a 1-0 overtime win in the MCT quarterfinals on October 20). She showed again tonight that she is a top notch keeper.”

In Trombetta’s view, his team rose to occasion with the run to the MCT semis.

“When you are the six seed, you are looking to make it to the final four and then anything can happen from there,” said Trombetta. “Playing Pennington again, you just want to come out with energy and effort and the girls did that.”

Trombetta is looking for one more big effort from his girls this fall when the Panthers go for their sixth straight Prep B crown as the host second-seeded Montclair Kimberley Academy in the Prep B title game on October 31.

“Games like this are just going to help us prepare for the Prep B tournament,” said Trombetta. “We are not going to see much that we haven’t seen already in these last few games.”

Lane, for her part, believes the Panthers are prepared to keep their title streak going.

“It is a very young team; they work hard for me and they work hard for themselves because they want it too,” said Lane.

“I want to keep playing. I want to play hard for these girls and show them how amazing it is when we get to a championship.”