RISING TO THE CHALLENGE: Princeton High boys’ soccer player Nick Matese leaps over a foe to get the ball in 2022 action. Sense defender Matese will be spearheading the PHS back line this fall. The Tigers, who will be guided by new head coach Ryan Walsh after Wayne Sutcliffe stepped down after a legendary 26-year tenure, start their 2023 season by hosting Allentown on September 7. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

With Wayne Sutcliffe having stepped down from coaching Princeton High boys’ soccer team this spring to end a 26-year tenure that featured two state titles, it will be the start of a new era for the program this fall.

But as longtime assistant coach Ryan Walsh succeeds his boss, he vows that things will be pretty much the same around the team.

“The big question everyone has asked me is what is different; if anybody asked somebody else in the program that, I hope their answer is not much,” said Walsh, a former Rider University men’s soccer standout who served eight seasons under Sutcliffe. “He had so much success. I try to take a lot of what he did. He is always even-keeled. I want to keep that same cool head that he has. It is a similar training style, not a whole lot is going to change hopefully.”

While Walsh, who teaches math at PHS, acknowledges that he has big shoes to fill, he is ready for the challenge.

“There is definitely a little pressure, me and Wayne always wanted to win,” said Walsh, who helped the Tigers go 8-8-1 last fall. “I am super competitive. So no matter where I got my first coaching job, I was going to feel some pressure because I want to win so bad. I am always going to feel that way.”

Walsh was exposed to a winning approach in his college career by playing for legendary coach Charlie Inverso at Rider.

“It was a great experience because when I first entered Rider it was Charlie’s first year,” said Walsh, a 2015 Rider alum. “He was taking over a program that was not so great, they had a lot of down years. We were his first class. In my four years I got to see the growth of that program exponentially. By my senior year we were so good and then right after I graduated they ended up winning three MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) championships.”

That experience put Walsh on the path to coaching. “It helped me a lot to become a leader because we were Charlie’s guys and he was really counting on us to step up as leaders,” said Walsh, a team captain as a senior who tallied six goals and one assist in his career in 69 games as a forward/midfielder. “Freshman year I was kind of fitting in, but by sophomore year, I was growing into more of a leadership role. That kind of led me into a coaching career.”

Getting exposed to PHS in his final year at Rider, Walsh got his first formal coaching gig with the Tiger boys’ program.

“I actually did my student teaching at Princeton High in my senior year spring,” said Walsh. “I did some volunteer coaching stuff at Rider, we used to go over to Lawrence and work with some of the kids at the elementary schools there. My first official coaching job was at PHS for Wayne.”

Working under Sutcliffe helped Walsh learn the ins and outs of coaching.

“I learned so much about coaching in those eight years, going from a player to a coach is such a huge leap,” said Walsh. “I didn’t realize how big of a leap it was. As a coach, there is a lot of managing players and players’ emotions. As a player, you don’t really see that side. Those were the biggest challenges, trying to deal with teenagers’ emotions. High school soccer is tough because the kids come from school all day and sometimes they are not able to leave that behind them when they get to practice.”

One of the key lessons Walsh took from Sutcliffe’s approach was the importance of developing bonds with players.

“Besides the soccer knowledge, he really taught me how to deal with people and kids,” said Walsh. “He was really good about connecting with players. He spent a lot of time before and after training getting to know guys on a more personal level.”

As Walsh has taken the helm this summer in preseason, he acknowledges that he misses having Sutcliffe by his side.

“By the end of his coaching career, he and I were working closely, it was almost like we were co-head coaches,” said Walsh. “I definitely feel ready. It is sad because I have gotten to know Wayne so well. These last few weeks without him have been strange.”

While Sutcliffe’s departure has left a void, the PHS players have responded well to Walsh.

“It has been really great; we have a pretty veteran team, we have a lot of guys returning from last year,” said Walsh, whose team starts the 2023 season by hosting Allentown on September 7. “They are fired up. They were disappointed in how our season ended last year. We had some injuries that hurt us last year. They came in really fired up. In the spring and summer, the guys were in the weight room. There was a lot of training in the summer time.”

PHS boasts some good guys at forward in junior Brian Donis (6 goals, 2 assists in 2022), junior Azariah Breitman (3 goals), senior Pasquale Carusone, and junior Ben Gitai (2 goals).

“Brian had a nice year last season, Breitman is good,” said Walsh. “We have another forward who wasn’t on the team last year in Pasquale. He has been playing club, he hasn’t played for PHS the last three years. He came out this year to play for PHS his senior year. Those three will be our main forwards. Ben played some minutes for us last year, he had a nice sophomore season.”

In the midfield, the Tigers will feature senior Felipe Matar Grandi (3 goals, 6 assists), junior Archie Smith (1 assist), senior Brandon Urias (1 assist), senior Matt Kim, and freshman Harvey Smith.

“Felipe is playing in the middle, Archie started last year and had a great sophomore year,” said Walsh. “He has come back really fit and ready to go. Brandon and Matt will be in the middle as well. Archie has a younger brother, Harvey, who will pay in the middle for us as well.”

Senior Nick Matese (3 goals), senior Jamie Reynolds (5 goals, 2 assists), senior Patrick Kenah (1 goals, 2 assists), and junior Connor Hewitt (1 assist) will lead the Tiger back line.

“Nick will be playing center back for us; he is phenomenal and will partner with Jamie,” said Walsh. “Jamie moved to center back this year. Patrick played on the outside last year. He had a really good second half of the season last year so we are really excited that he came back. Connor is also back there right now.”

At goalie, junior Nicolas Holmelund is primed to build on a solid debut campaign.

“Holmelund is looking strong, he trained hard all summer,” said Walsh. “It is tough to be a sophomore goalie; he is a little bit older and a little bit stronger.”

Boasting strength in numbers, PHS has the talent to maintain its winning tradition under Walsh.

“We have a lot of depth, we have a really quality roster from top to bottom,” said Walsh. “Utilizing that depth is key. The season is a grind, it is three games a week. We can bring guys off the bench and the level won’t drop because there are still quality players. I think that will help us eliminate some of those injuries that we had late in the season last year. There is no substitute for experience, minutes played is going to make you better at the varsity level. All of those guys got a lot of minutes under their belt last year.”