HEADY PLAY: Princeton High girls’ soccer player Romy Johnson, right, heads the ball last Thursday as PHS played at Montgomery in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Central Jersey Group 4 quarterfinals. After upsetting top-seeded Freehold on penalty kicks in the first round of the sectional, the 16th-seeded Tigers fell 1-0 to eighth-seeded Montgomery. PHS ended the fall at 7-10-3, rebounding from a shaky 1-8-2 start. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

When the Princeton High girls’ soccer team lost 2-0 to Steinert on October 7 to fall to 1-8-2, it would have been understandable if the squad threw in the towel on the campaign.

The defeat marked the sixth straight loss for the Tigers in a stretch that saw them outscored 11-1.

But PHS edged Nottingham 1-0 three days later, triggering a remarkable reversal of fortune. The Tigers went 5-1-1 heading into the Central Jersey Group 4 tournament where 16th-seeded PHS faced top-seeded Freehold.

Pulling off a monumental upset, the Tigers edged the Patriots 5-4 on penalty kicks after the foes had played to a scoreless draw through regulation and overtime.

Last Thursday, the team’s Cinderella run ended with a 1-0 loss at eighth-seeded Montgomery in the quarterfinal round, leaving the Tigers with a final record of 7-10-3.

PHS first-year head coach Meghan Brennan credited her players with staying the course as they overcame the shaky start.

“It is almost hard to believe that there was a time when we were 1-8,” said Brennan. “Honestly, I don’t know many teams that could go with that record and turn it around to be 6-2-1 and upset one of the best teams in New Jersey. It speaks to their character, their grit. They have so much guts. They are a strong team and a strong group of girls to be able to keep showing up, fighting hard and keep believing in themselves and to turn around the season like that. It is really remarkable.”

Coming into the Freehold game, the Tigers were ready to fight hard.

“Freehold is obviously a great team, they always have been,” said Brennan. “They were super strong this year, they have a lot of really talented players. I feel like we really embraced being the underdog. We felt like we have nothing to lose after the tough start to the season. We had gone 6-1-1. We are playing our best soccer, the girls are finally feeling confident so they just gave it their all and it went our way, which is awesome.”

In pulling off the upset, PHS produced one of its best defensive efforts of the season as it held the high-powered Patriots scoreless through 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime.

“It was incredible, Kacey [Howes] marked their leading scorer,” said Brennan. “We dropped her to the center mid and she just did a phenomenal job. Their leading scorer is very, very talented. I give Kacey a ton of credit. In the past, she has played center mid. She is one of those players who can do anything.”

When the game went to penalty kicks, sophomore goalie Julia Zaldarriaga came up big, making a save and converting a PK.

“They are such a challenge, Julia is somebody who thrives under pressure,” said Brennan. “She is a great person to have on your side in those scenarios. She saved the second PK and then immediately turned around and nailed her PK. It was iconic.”

Ava Tabeart, Clara Burton, Romy Johnson, and Collette Colarusso also came through in the pressure cooker as they buried their PKs.

“Every single girl nailed their PK, it is a huge mental challenge so I was extremely proud of them,” said Brennan. “Credit to Freehold, they put all of theirs on frame as well. Julia made the save but I was wow, it is not very common to see every kick on frame in a high school game.”

Coming through with the stunner was emotional for the upstart Tigers.

“We have been feeling fairly confident going in, we knew it would be a challenge but we felt like we were playing our best soccer,” said Brennan. “If there was ever a time we would have an upset, it is now. The girls were just thrilled, they were so ecstatic, so proud of themselves and each other. It was a really, really great win for us.”

As PHS prepared for Montgomery, the squad was primed for another challenge.

“We still had that underdog mentality, we saw Montgomery in August in a scrimmage so we knew they were talented,” said Brennan.

“We had also seen their record, we know they have a lot of good players. We still had that sort of mentality, that this is going to be a huge challenge. It is going to be 80, maybe more really tough minutes, We can’t let up at all but still felt like we can do this. Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way. We played a good game.”

The game turned out to be an uphill battle as goalie Zaldarriaga was knocked out early on due to injury.

“It was a good defensive effort, unfortunately Julia got hurt in the first five minutes of the game,” said Brennan. “We played Mona [Mobin-Udin] for a few minutes at first and the just put Olivia [DeLuca] in for the rest of the game.”

Raising their game, the Tiger back four excelled, yielding only a second half goal.

“They played excellently, Romy [Johnson] was super clutch,” said Brennan. “Montgomery is very good at finding those through balls and Romy was very great at shutting them down, tracking them down and taking away opportunities.”

At the offensive end, the Tigers generated opportunities but failed to cash in.

“In the last 20 minutes of the game, we got a ton of chances but we just didn’t put them in the back of the net,” said Brennan. “We had a bunch of shots. The goalie made some saves and a few shots were wide or over.”

In reflecting on the loss, Brennan was sad to see things end for her senior group which included Manuela Dante Boarato, Virginia Marchesi, Nadia Mauger, Marina Zaldarriaga, and Robyn Wachtel in addition to Tabeart and Colarusso.

“We have an awesome group of seniors, they are super strong,” said Brennan. “There are seven of them and we will miss them all a ton. That is always the hardest part of losing in states, that is their last time.”

Breanna credited captains Tabeart and Zaldarriaga with holding things together for the squad through its early struggles.

“Ava and Marina are our senior captains and they just did a wonderful job; from the beginning, they took a larger leadership role,” said Brennan, who also had two junior captains in Howes and Johnson. “They helped foster such a positive and inclusive environment. They were really excellent in making sure that our new players felt welcome and included. When things aren’t going well, it becomes so much harder to keep everyone positive, to keep everybody working hard. But they truly modeled believing in ourselves and working hard every single day. When they did that day in, day out, it just catches on with the rest of the team.”

With such stars as sophomore Taylor Hamerschlag, junior Quinn Gallagher, sophomore Mathilde Pouliot, freshman Malia Yates Burnett, and sophomore Julia Zaldarriaga returning along with junior Howes, junior Burton, junior DeLuca, and junior Johnson, things look positive for the Tigers going forward.

“We are a young team so it feels good to have so many key players return next year,” said Brennan. “We just had such a strong second half of the season. To come back from such a challenge to end the way we did with probably the biggest upset in the history of Princeton girls’ soccer is such a good thing for them to carry for next year. They will be able to teach the younger players that we can face adversity and we can overcome it.”