TITLE CHASE: Princeton Day School field hockey player ­Emily Goldman chases down a foe in recent action. Last Friday, junior star Goldman scored three goals to help top-seeded PDS defeat No. 17 Nottingham 9-0 in the opening round of the Mercer County Tournament. The Panthers were slated to host No. 8 WW/P-N on October 23 in the MCT quarterfinals with the winner advancing to the semis on October 25. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Emily Goldman and her teammates on the Princeton Day School field hockey weren’t about to take Nottingham lightly when the two teams met last Friday in the opening round of the Mercer County Tournament.

Even though PDS was seeded first in the MCT and the visiting Northstars were No. 17, the Panthers knew nothing was guaranteed.

Two days earlier, the Panthers had closed the regular season by losing to underdog Hun and learned a valuable lesson in the process.

“I think Hun brought us back to earth,” said junior star Goldman. “We had such a good streak going, only having one loss. I think it was the best thing for us even though I would like to beat them. It showed us that no matter what team we face, no matter what their ranking is, we need to work just as hard.”

As the Panthers hit the turf at Baker Field on Friday to face Nottingham, they were determined to work hard from the opening minute of the contest.

“I think we try to show each team that we are not here to mess around and this is our turf,” said Goldman. “We need to be victorious on our turf so we come out strong.”

Goldman led the charge on Friday scoring two goals in the first five minutes as the Panthers seized control on the way to a 9-0 rout and improving to 10-2-3.

“I think the rush of the playoffs kind of got me going,” said Goldman, who added a second-half tally to end the day with a hat trick. “I was really excited and adrenaline just made me finish.

In assessing the improvement in her finishing this year, Goldman credits her teammates.

“I think it is more about experience,” said Goldman. “We have basically had the same team for the last two years, only losing three players. I think the unity in general is a lot better and that makes everyone play at a higher level.”

The arrival of new head coach Tracey Arndt has helped to raise the level of the team’s game.

“Coach Arndt has definitely led us in the right direction,” said Goldman. “She was a breath of fresh air and I think she has brought us along quite well.”

Arndt, for her part, concurred with Goldman’s assessment of the impact of the Hun loss.

“Hun was a really good team and they certainly came out firing; they finished when they needed to,” said Arndt.

“We had some nice moments of plays but mentally a lot of things were not working out as well as we wanted. All in all, it could have been the best thing that could have happened to us. It helped us understand what we really needed to focus on and that the playoffs are a whole new season.”

In Arndt’s view, the thrust of that focus comes down to taking care of business around the goal at both ends of the field.

“For me right now, it is finishing in both circles,” said Arndt. “In the attack circle, we have to be putting away goals when we need to. We took a lot of shots today which was great but we need to get them on cage. Defensively, we are working on our marking and being tight and just having a tenacious attitude in there to not let it go in.”

Goldman’s tenacity in the circle helped set the tone for the Panthers in the win over Nottingham.

“It was really exciting to see Emily get her stick down and she did what she needed to do,” said Arndt, who also got a hat trick from Emma Quigley in the win over Nottingham. “She got in the right spots and finished hard and that’s exactly what we needed from her.”

Arndt is hoping that that there is plenty of excitement ahead for the Panthers as they play in the MCT and then compete in the state Prep B tourney.

“Hopefully, we have a lot of games ahead of us but we have got to focus on each one,” said Arndt, whose team was slated to host No. 8 WW/P-N on October 23 in the MCT quarterfinals with the winner advancing to the semis on October 25.

“We can’t focus on three or four games coming up because they may not come. We have to focus on each game and each half. We’ll go back to work on Monday and get some things accomplished.”

Goldman, for her part, is confident that the Panthers will maintain their winning focus.

“Rankings don’t matter for us at this point,” said Goldman. “We need to work hard, no matter if we are playing the last seed or the second seed.”