LEAD SINGER: Princeton High boys’ lacrosse player Jason Singer looks to unload the ball in a game earlier this season. Last Saturday, senior attacker Singer scored two goals to help third-seeded PHS edge sixth-seeded Robbinsville 8-7 in a Mercer County Tournament quarterfinal contest. The Tigers, who improved to 10-6 with the win, were slated to face second-seeded Lawrenceville B in the MCT semis on May 14 with the victor advancing to the final on May 16 at Hopewell Valley. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

In his first two years at Princeton High, Jason Singer emerged as a versatile performer for the boys’ tennis team, playing third singles, first doubles, and second doubles.

Coming into the spring of his junior year in 2023, though, Singer decided to switch things up athletically and joined the Tiger boys’ lacrosse program.

“I was pretty successful both years in the tennis season but I wanted to come back to lacrosse because I played with Patrick [Kenah] when I was in a middle school,” said Singer. “I just wanted to play more of a team sport.”

The bond with Kenah helped smooth Singer’s transition to the lax program.

“It has been great, especially because he has introduced me to the team and some other buddies outside of lacrosse,” said attacker Singer, who made an instant impact for the Tigers last year, tallying 27 goals and 13 assists in his debut campaign.

Looking to build on that positive start, Singer trained with his buddies to prepare for his senior season.

“I have been working with Pat, Brendan [Beatty] and Braden [Barlag], all of the offensive guys,” said Singer. “We just work in the offseason together.”

Last Saturday, that work paid off for Singer as he scored two goals to help third-seeded PHS edge sixth-seeded Robbinsville 8-7 in the Mercer County Tournament quarterfinals.

The Tigers, who improved to 10-6 with the win, were slated to face second-seeded Lawrenceville B in the MCT semis on May 14 with the victor advancing to the final on May 16 at Hopewell Valley.

Having lost 12-11 in overtime to Robbinsville on April 25, Singer and his teammates were determined to turn the tables on the Ravens in the MCT rematch.

“We knew that we could beat them,” said Singer. “We just came out, we wanted to get good possession on offense and give it to our guys and just lock down on defense.”

Singer came out on fire, scoring a goal to give PHS an early 1-0 lead.

“Coach (Chip Casto) was saying you want to get down to the goalie extended and take the shorty from there,” said Singer. “They weren’t really sliding too early.”

Despite trailing 4-3 at halftime, the Tigers weren’t fazed.

“We had been there before, especially at the Hopewell game,” said Singer, referring to a 17-11 win over the Bulldogs on April 4 which saw PHS overcome an early deficit. “That is what I tried to remind the team. We said to keep our heads up and keep fighting and go on a run.”

Singer helped the Tigers go on a 3-1 run in the third quarter, tallying his second goal of the game with 11:09 left in the period.

“It was the same exact thing as the first quarter,” said Singer. “Coach was saying attack the shortsticks and just keep going.”

With the foes knotted at 7-7 with less than a minute to go in regulation, Singer helped set up friend Kenah with some deft passing in the crease area.

“The goal is to get it to his stick,” said Singer of Kenah, who scored the game-winning goal with 50 seconds left in the game.

As PHS celebrated its Senior Day last Saturday in what is likely its last home game of the season, Singer was looking to go out with a bang.

“My dad was saying just get out there, it could be your last game at home so have some fun and get after it,” said Singer.

PHS head coach Casto was looking for his team to get after it in round two against Robbinsville.

“We changed a couple of matchups, we put Anthony [Famiglietti] on No. 1 (Lukas Hutt) who just torches us every time, he is a great player, said Casto. “We needed to be more physical. We needed to win the ground ball war which both sides know is the key like rebounding in basketball. Whoever picks up the more balls usually wins the game. I have not seen the stats, but I think we probably picked up more than they did.”

Casto acknowledged that the Tigers needed to pick things up heading into the second half.

“We needed to settle in defensively and get on our matchups, get under picks and not switch so much,” said Casto. “It was all the fundamental stuff you work on and when you don’t see it, it gets frustrating.”

Senior goalie Kian Bragg, a converted field player, made nine saves to help spark a defensive effort which saw PHS hold the Ravens to one goal over the last 12:29 of the game.

“It is unbelievable what he is doing out of nowhere,” said Casto of Bragg. “Jack Crotty has been sneaky getting better and better. He is making the right slides, he is making the right reads. Frank McLaughlin is playing better. Anthony had his hands full with No. 1. They are all playing a little better. We ask James Reynolds to do a lot of little things, he was picking up the ball and clearing.”

Casto credited Singer with doing some good things on attack.

“The greatest play he made was he caught the ball inside with about 50 seconds left in the game,” said Casto of Singer, who has scored 28 points so far this spring in 21 goals and seven assists. “Usually he just lets a shot go but he didn’t, he pushed it out wide and then we swung it and got the winning goal off of his really, really good decision. We are asking him to do stuff like that and take intelligent shots. He had a great shot in the first quarter and a nice goal in the third quarter.”

With the Tigers coming off the great effort against Robbinsville, Casto is excited about his squad’s chances to keep going in the MCT.

“We lost a game we thought we should have won on Thursday to Somerville, another scrappy team, it was a one-goal game,” said Casto, referring to a 10-9 loss to Somerville. “That is what we talked about in the huddle, we have been here, let’s stay calm, get the ball to our horses and let’s see what happens. It is interesting having the Preps in here, this is the last year of the county tournament. Lawrenceville B will be tough.”

In Singer’s view, PHS will be tough to beat in the MCT and the upcoming state tournament.

“We just have to keep our heads up,” said Singer. “We just have to stay motivated and keep working.”