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PHS Boys' Soccer Takes CJ Sectional Title But Amazing Run Ends in State Semifinal
By Bill Alden
Peter Abram doesn't mince words as he recalls his early-season assessment of the Princeton High boys' soccer team.
"At the beginning of the year, I thought we were going to be awful," said the senior goalkeeper. "Our defense wasn't very experienced. Our offense was very disorganized, there was a lot more dribbling and a lot less passing."
Apparently validating Abram's analysis, the Little Tigers struggled to a 3-5-1 start and teetered on the verge of not even qualifying for the state tournament.
Then something amazing happened. "We got the formation straight," remembered the wavy-haired and fiery Abram. "Owen [Nichols] and Carlos [Espichan] started playing the through ball perfectly in the midfield. Our defense started working really well together. We developed a solid offensive block, a solid defensive block."
Clicking on all cylinders, PHS put together one of the greatest stretch runs in the program's history as it reeled off 12 straight wins.
Along the way, the Little Tigers topped Steinert 2-0 on November 1 to win the Mercer County Tournament and then last Friday they edged perennial playoff nemesis Wall 1-0 on a Nicholas Devine goal to take just the second Central Jersey Group III sectional title in team history.
While the team's amazing run ended last Monday when powerful Ocean City nipped PHS 1-0 in the State Group III semis at Toms River North, PHS head coach Wayne Sut- cliffe won't soon forget what his team accomplished in its late-season run.
"Who knew?," said Sutcliffe as he reflected on his team's rocky start. "We were just trying to win another game. I knew we were good enough but I never quite thought we would play as well as we did in this 12-game stretch. We just didn't win games, we played phenomenal soccer. It was just great, it was all about the players."
In Sutcliffe's view, the team's sizzling play started with the play of Abram and defensive stalwarts Phil Francois, Kevin Wagner, Graham MacDonald, and Scott ¬Callahan.
"Defensively, I can't say enough about how Kevin, Phil, Graham, Pete, and Scott played," asserted Sutcliffe, whose club finished with a 15-6-1 final record. "They were just phenomenal today and that's how they've been the last month. That's why we've had such a great run."
Although Sutcliffe was disappointed by the loss to Ocean City (20-1-4), he thought his club rose to a higher level as it bowed out of the tourney. "It was a great game between two solid teams," said Sutcliffe as his charges disconsolately trudged to their bus for the long ride home.
"It was one of our best games of the year from a defensive standpoint. We just didn't do it at the other end. I thought we had two great chances with Owen [Nichols] and Nick [Devine] but we just didn't get one in. In championship games you just can't waste those chances. It was just a great soccer game."
Sutcliffe smiled as he contemplated how his veterans performed in their final games of high school soccer.
"The seniors, what can I say about those guys, they were phenomenal," said Sut- cliffe, who will be losing such key performers as Abram, Francois, Callahan, and Devine to graduation. "They were just great. It was a great run."
Abram, for his part, saw that veteran know-how as a key to the team's run to the final four. "Everybody just knows what everybody else is going to do," explained Abram.
But earlier this fall, nobody could've known what
the Little Tigers were ultimately going to do in their amazing
stretch run.
