(Photo by Stephen Goldsmith) HELLBENT: Princeton High boys’ soccer goalie Steven Hellstern displays his form as he warms up for PHS’s clash at WW/P-N last Monday in the Group III Central Jersey sectional semifinals. Hellstern made six saves in the contest but it wasn’t enough as top-seeded WW/P-N edged No. 4 PHS 2-1 in overtime.

PHS Boys’ Soccer Loses Rubber Match, Falling to WW/P-N in OT in Sectional

Bill Alden

It was the final act of a compelling three-part drama featuring the Princeton High boys’ soccer team and rival WW/P-N.

Powerful WW/P-N won the first battle staged between the teams, prevailing 2-0 in a regular season matchup on October 7.

Three weeks later, PHS took the second act, gutting out a 2-1 overtime win over the Knights in the Mercer County Tournament semifinals on the way to its second straight county crown.

Last Monday, the teams played out the final scene, meeting in the Group III Central Jersey sectional semifinals as fourth-seeded PHS traveled to top-seeded WW/P-N on a sunny and windy day.

Playing with the wind at its back in the first half, PHS jumped off to a 1-0 lead on a goal by senior star Sam Kotowski seven minutes into the contest.

In the second half, WW/P-N evened the scored on a goal by Mike Tartaro with 34:14 remaining in regulation.

In the waning moments of the second half, PHS put the pressure on but couldn’t break through against the wind and the WW/P-N defense and the game went into overtime.

The Knights won the coin flip and got to play with the wind in the first extra 10-minute extra session.

Within minutes, the Knights had blown PHS out of the state tournament, putting together a superb run down the far side of the field that resulted in a goal by Stefan Bebenov.

While WW/P-N celebrated its second straight trip to the sectional finals and improving to 18-1, the PHS players disconsolately gathered around their bench as they dealt with the finality of the defeat.

Senior midfielder Corey Marsh slumped over a fence with his head in his hands while classmate Nick Hughes stared blankly into space for minutes.

After delivering some heartfelt post-game words to his team, PHS head coach Wayne Sutcliffe recognized that one of the players in the three-part drama was destined to suffer a sad ending.

“We were on the other side of this the last time,” said Sutcliffe, referring to the MCT semifinal clash. “Someone has to advance, it is a tournament. Unfortunately for us, it is North this time.”

Sutcliffe was hoping that his team could survive playing against the wind in the first period of overtime.

“I thought if we could get through that 10 minutes, I liked our chances,” said Sutcliffe, whose team ended the season with a 17-4 record.

“I really liked our chances in PKs. The wind and the sun were key factors.”

PHS’ failure to take greater advantage of the wind in the first half was a key factor in the outcome.

“We should have had two or three goals in the first half,” maintained Sutcliffe.

“If you don’t take advantage of things on a windy day, you know the other team is going to have the same number of opportunities. I knew it was going to be a concern as the game moved forward that we would need another one.”

It was fitting that Kotowski did get the one PHS score. The score gave the gifted striker a school-record 31 goals on the season.

“It has just been great to coach him and watch him develop as a player,” said Sutcliffe, noting that he believes that Kotowski is the all-time career leader in goals at PHS.

“He came in as a freshman and started as a freshman. He’s played more minutes in this program than any other guy on the team. It was great to watch him have a great sophomore year and then a great junior year. Most importantly a great senior year and score big goals in big games. He had 14 game winners this season. He gave so much to our program.”

The team got a lot from its other seniors, a class which included Will Slade, Nick Hughes, Chris Bechler, Corey Marsh, Jon Beissinger, and Anastacio Perez.

“Will Slade is such a great player, a great young man and a fiery competitor,” said Sutcliffe.

“To watch him develop as a player has just been tremendous; he is a first class marking back. It’s the same with Nick, just to have him on my team has been an absolute honor for me; Chris as well. I can’t say enough about Corey; creative midfielders don’t come any better. He is just such a quality kid. Jon Beissinger had a great run; Anastacio had some great moments. It’s a special class that comes along not that often.”

It was a class that helped PHS exceed expectations this fall. “There were a lot of people at the beginning of the soccer season around Mercer County who thought maybe we are going to take a little bit of a drop,” said Sutcliffe.

“We lost four outstanding players from last year. To win the MCT this year was harder than last year because of our seed. To run through the CVC schedule and only drop a couple of games was a great season.”

And battling a great foe like WW/P-N helped PHS produce drama that showed the game at its best.

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