TO THE MATT: Princeton High boys’ soccer player Matt Chao kicks the ball in a game earlier this season. Senior Chao helped key a strong defensive effort as PHS fell 1-0 to Southern High in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Group 4 state semis on November 19. The Tigers ended the fall with an 18-3-4 record. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden 

Playing at Southern High in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Group 4 state semis last week, the Princeton High boys’ soccer team faced some challenges in terms of a talented foe and a choppy pitch.

“They are really big, athletic and we knew that Aidan Donnelly, their forward, was really a handful,” said PHS head coach Ryan Walsh. “They were really senior heavy so we knew that we were going to have to handle them athletically. It was going to be a different style of soccer because of their grass field. We spend so much time training to play some quality soccer. We knew it was going to be a different game, so we had to change our style a little bit.”

It turned out to a bumpy ride as a handball call on the Tigers resulted in a penalty kick that Donnelly converted to give Southern a 1-0 lead six minutes into the November 19 contest.

Undaunted, PHS generated a number of chances but couldn’t cash in any of them as the Tigers fell by that 1-0 score to finish the season with a 18-3-4 record.

“We still created opportunities,” said Walsh, noting that Southern went on to win the Group 4 state title, defeating Scotch Plains-Fanwood 2-0 in the final on Sunday. “We had some chances but it didn’t go our way.”

Then Tigers had some frustrating near misses over the last 40 minutes of the contest.

“We came out in the second half, Azariah [Breitman] had a really good chance really early on,” said Walsh. “Then their goalie got a yellow card so he came off the field and they put in their reserve goalie but Chase [Hamerschlag] missed the shot wide, he didn’t put it on frame. Then with three minutes left we had a throw in and Archie [Smith] had a clean look. The goalie made a save, Azariah got the rebound and their defender dove and made a goal line save. It was there. We were battling the whole way.”

Although the Tigers came up short against Southern, the loss didn’t dim with PHS achieved this fall.

“The message to the team was how proud I was of them this year, the seniors especially,” said Walsh, whose squad won the Central Jersey sectional and Group 4 state title last year in his first season guiding the program and then won the Colonial Valley Conference tournament and a second straight sectional crown this fall. “They have won everything that they could win in the last two years. To have so much success they should be proud of what they accomplished at Princeton High School.”

With PHS graduating a number of stars from its state champion squad, it took a while for the Tigers to get rolling in 2024.

“Early on after losing so many important players from last year, we had to fill this team in,” said Walsh. “I thought that after about five or six games, we really started to catch our stride. There was so much growth from August 19th all the way until the end. It was great to see.”

The team’s senior group — which included Breitman, Smith, Nicolas Holmelund, Connor Hewitt, Matt Chao, Thomsen Lord, Jaiden Jain-Edwards, Brian Donis, Owen Barry, Derek Leiva, Ben Gitai, Theo Kristensen, Oliver Juan, and Chris Penston — made a great impact on the program.

“This senior class is fantastic, they are great leaders,” said Walsh. “Obviously they are really talented soccer players, but they are also fantastic people. That is what made this team jell. It was because the seniors were so welcoming to the new guys, they really helped the new guys along.”

The Tigers will be welcoming back a core of talented players next season.

“We had some underclassmen play some really important roles this year,” said Walsh. “We have a sophomore class that is pretty talented and pretty big. So between the sophomores and the juniors like Aaron [Thyrum], Chase [Hamerschlag], Ivan [Marinov] and Andre [Ansarah], we are excited for next year as well.”

Walsh is excited for his third year at the helm of the program.

“This year felt a little different. Last year with the seniors, a lot of those guys were Wayne’s (previous head coach Wayne Sutcliffe) guys,” said Walsh. “This year it felt more like my team. There was a lot of mixing and matching, we tried some things out. Some things didn’t work but we figured it out. We have a great foundation in place to have success year after year.”