(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski) NOT GIVING IN: Princeton Day School boys’ soccer player Maxime Hoppenot, left, battles for the ball against visiting Gill St. Bernard’s in the state Prep B championship game. Senior midfielder Hoppenot helped the top-seeded Panthers edge the No. 3 Knights 2-1. The win capped a banner weekend for the Hoppenot family as Hoppenot’s older brother, Princeton University junior star Antoine Hoppenot, scored the winning goal as Princeton topped Penn last Saturday to earn at least a share of the Ivy League title.

Senior Star Hoppenot Caps Banner Weekend by Helping PDS Boys’ Soccer to Prep B Title

Bill Alden

On Saturday evening, Maxime Hoppenot was in the crowd cheering on the Princeton University men’s soccer team as it battled Penn.

Hoppenot enjoyed a special moment late in the contest when his older brother, PU junior star Antoine Hoppenot, scored the goal that gave the Tigers a 2-1 victory and a share of the Ivy League title.

The next afternoon, Maxime was drawing the cheers as he helped the Princeton Day School boys’ soccer team edge visiting Gill St. Bernard’s 2-1 in the state Prep B championship game.

In the wake of the victory, the PDS midfielder got hugged and saluted by Antoine, who was on hand to support his brother and his former high school side.

“It is very special,” said the younger Hoppenot, reflecting on the family’s weekend to remember. “The Hoppenot winning streak up to 21 games. My eldest brother [Pierre] won his men’s league yesterday.”

At the beginning of the afternoon, the PDS winning streak appeared to be in jeopardy as starting goalie Jacob Eisenberg broke a finger in warm-ups and had to be replaced by untested sophomore Eric Powers.

“We tried not to let it change our tactics but obviously it was always in the back of our minds,” said Hoppenot.

“We were trying to reduce the amount of shots because this is goalie’s first full game all year. We did try to pack it in more at the end to avoid shots and get in the way of shots. In the end, it worked out.”

With the battle-tested PDS bringing a 16-2-2 record into the game and having won the Mercer County Tournament championship game 1-0 over Princeton High in a double overtime thriller, Hoppenot had a feeling things would work out.

“We have come back in a lot of games and we haven’t lost a game that has went into overtime,” said Hoppenot. “We never had penalty kicks in any tournament. We have won three and tied two in games that went to OT.”

Top-seeded PDS jumped out to a 1-0 lead over No. 3 Gill St. Bernard’s on a free kick by Rui Pinheiro with 35:21 left in the first half. The Knights responded with a goal 1:18 later to knot the contest at 1-1. Brendan Clune scored with 7:47 left in the half to put PDS up for good.

As a two-way midfielder, senior star Hoppenot is prepared to do whatever necessary to help PDS win.

“I am supposed to be there for the forwards when they need an outlet ball and I try to get into the openings,” said Hoppenot. “I also have to pack behind and get into challenges. It’s different because I play forward for my club.”

The PDS players don’t shy away from the challenge of playing different positions as tactics dictate.

“One thing that is great about this team is that everyone fills into whatever position is needed,” said Hoppenot. “Everyone buys into what Malcolm [PDS head coach Malcolm Murphy] says. I am out of position; Paul Zetterberg is out of position at left back. He plays forward or midfielder on his club team.”

The team’s chemistry has been forged by the deep bond between the nine seniors on the squad.

“It kind of started last year, we had pretty much the same group of kids and we really bonded,” said Hoppenot, whose fellow seniors on the squad include Kevin Francfort, Justin Ward, Dane Carberry, Hugo Meggitt, Will Powers, Peter Blackburn, Skye Samse, and Rob Smukler.

“Last year, we had team dinners every weekend and again this year. It is not like some team bonding that feels kind of forced because all of us are our best friends on and off the field. We also understand that we are always going to yell at each other at games to get each other to do things right. But off the field, we are best friends again.”

Head coach Murphy gives his seniors a lot of credit for the team’s superb campaign.

“They have been excellent; they have actually been a great bunch of leaders, week in, week out,” said Murphy, reflecting on the group that helped PDS win its first Prep B title since 1986.

“They have their lunches together; they meet regularly. They go to all the Princeton University men’s home games so I am sure they are learning something there.”

The Panthers needed to draw on their savvy last Sunday as they dealt with the goalie change.

“We were disjointed a little bit in the first half; we got the time to settle in and so did Eric,” said Murphy.

“They really didn’t come at us that much in the first half; it was in the second half that they really brought a game to us. So the players had the time to adjust and recover. Eric did a pretty good job; he settled everyone down.

In Murphy’s view, it was critical for his side to build an early lead. “If we had gone a goal down; with the games in the season and already having won one title, I can’t say for sure what would have happened,” said Murphy.

“That’s something the captains and the guys have been talking to each other about — to be resilient and come back no matter what happens. They stay together as a team and work away.”

For Murphy, the prep-county title double could have long term ramifications for the program. “We are pretty excited for that, we hope it translates into soccer players looking at the program and selecting us,” asserted Murphy.

“It is a great academic school and hopefully the soccer player and anyone who plays sports will see that we are pushing the program in athletics too.”

Hoppenot, for his part, is proud of how the team kept pushing as it pursued the double.

“It means everything to us as players,” said Hoppenot, who will be continuing his soccer career at Tufts University next fall.

“At the beginning of the season we were looking at our schedule and we saw it was one of the tougher schedules we have had in years. Our goal was to win both titles but in the back of our minds we weren’t sure if it was going to happen. We really persevered.”

And by showing toughness last Sunday, Hoppenot helped culminate a banner weekend for his family.

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