(Photo by Stephen Goldsmith) BRONCO BUSTING: Sam Kotowski controls the ball last fall in his senior season with the Princeton High boys’ soccer team. Kotowski, who set a PHS single-season scoring record of 31 goals last fall, is starting his college career this week with the Rider University men’s soccer program. The Broncs kick off their 2009 campaign by hosting Lafayette on September 1.

After Record-Breaking PHS Boys’ Soccer Career, Kotowski Aiming to Make Sudden Impact at Rider

Bill Alden

Sam Kotowski has customarily made an immediate impact whenever he joins a soccer team.

As a youngster, Kotowski helped the Brunswick Blaze club team to a state championship in his debut season with the program.

Coming to the Princeton High boys’ soccer squad in 2005, Kotowski was a starter from game one at striker, emerging as a dangerous finisher in his freshman campaign.

Kotowski’s strong start was a harbinger of things to come as he helped the Little Tigers to a sectional title and two county crowns over the course of his career.

Last fall, the 5’8 Kotowski came up big time and time again, scoring a single-season school record 31 goals, including 14 game-winners as PHS went 17-4.

This week, Kotowski will look to get his college career off with a bang as he makes his debut for Rider University when it hosts Lafayette on September 1.

In preparing for his first college training camp, Kotowski went back to where things started for him in the game.

“I have been training with my father; he worked with me in the early stages of my career and it is good to be working with him again,” said Kotowski, a Cranbury resident who started playing club soccer as a first grader on a team coached by his father.

“He taught me everything he knew. I am in the best shape of my life. I have been training everyday.”

Kotowski learned early on that he had a special affinity for soccer. “Soccer wasn’t my best sport as a kid but there was something about it that kept me coming back,” said Kotowski.

“I have a talent that allows me to have more fun than other kids. Soccer has brought me places. I have gone to foreign countries. Soccer is more than a sport, it is a way of life. My father told me when I was a kid, you have a talent, stick with it.”

Unlike a lot of gifted young players, Kotowski didn’t enter high school with an eye on a college career.

“I wasn’t thinking about college, either academically or athletically,” recalled Kotowski.

“During my sophomore year, my guidance counselor and my dad sat down with me and told me I needed to pick up my grades to play in high school, let alone college. I started taking everything really seriously.”

Along the way, Kotowski turned into a serious scoring threat, partnering with Ross MacDonald in his sophomore year and Kyle DeBlois the next season to give PHS a high-powered attack.

In his senior season, Kotowski realized that he would have to carry more of the scoring burden individually.

“At the beginning of the season, I realized that if we wanted to get some things done, things were on my shoulders,” said Kotowski, who set the PHS career record in goals with a total of 75.

“I was a senior captain and I needed to step up. That pressure never really got to me. I just went out and performed. I was in a zone. I didn’t think about things, I just reacted.”

The good reaction that Kotowski got from the Rider soccer program helped him decide to stay in Mercer County for his college career.

“The coach [Russ Fager] has been there a long time and he knows what he is doing,” said Kotowski.

“He kept in touch. He watched me in the first WW/P-N game last year. He was also at county tournament and state tournament. I noticed that he cared about me. I spent many summers there with ODP (Olympic Development Program) and I liked the feeling of the place. It is pretty close so my parents can still watch me play.”

With Rider coming off a disappointing 2-15-2 season, Kotowski believes he can help the Broncos right away.

“I can have an impact if I am used,” said Kotowski, noting the team’s freshman class totals nine including former Steinert standout Ryan Fitzgerald.

“I definitely want to see if I can start. The older players and coach have said ‘we can really use you.’ We definitely have a good class. If we all end up playing, we will have a very young squad. The younger guys will grow as the season goes on.”

Based on Kotowski’s track record, it shouldn’t take long for him to grow into something special for Rider.

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