New Egypt blitzes Northern Burlington; PDS wins fifth game
COLUMBUS >> After knocking off a very good Bordentown team Saturday, the Northern Burlington High boys soccer players may have thought they could take it easy Monday when hosting New Egypt.
What the Liberty Division Greyhounds were not expecting was that the Freedom Division Warriors would be quite hungry to score after playing 100 minutes without a goal against Riverside Saturday.
The result was three first-half goals for the visitors, which caught Northern Burlington off guard and led New Egypt to a 3-1 victory.
“They were the better team for 2/3 of this game,” Greyhounds head coach Justin Faust said, crediting the Warriors. “As tough as the Liberty Division is, these (non-league contests) are games we have to win.”
New Egypt (3-4-1) set the tone from the time junior forward Riley Hughes put a pass from his classmate Hunter Keaton behind Northern Burlington’s junior goalkeeper Connor Hogan with 24:15 left.
While that did not awaken the Greyhounds, Jett Francis’ steal and score with a shot off the far post five minutes later made the home team’s situation a little more pressing.
“In the first half, we were more energized,” Hughes said. “We’ve had a slow start (to the year). Now we want to settle down and get our season going.”
Hughes helped ensure that lift-off point when he outran a defender to a long pass from Cody LaCava with two minutes left before intermission and scored his second goal of the game and fifth of the season to give the Warriors a 3-0 edge at the break.
“After Saturday’s (0-0) game (with Riverside), I told the guys, ‘It’s there,’” New Egypt head coach Matt Carroll said. “We can play well, but we have to play together.”
“In the first half, we were flat. We did not have enough energy,” Northern Burlington sophomore forward Christian Herdt said. “The way we came out versus Bordentown Saturday was the way (the Warriors) came out versus us today.”
The Greyhounds (3-5-1) began to get back on their game in the second half and put themselves on the board when Herdt led junior Sam Adeniyi for a goal with 23:45 left. Yet, it was the only time they could get the ball behind New Egypt’s hardworking senior goalkeeper Tim Blomgren.
Blomgren made 12 saves to continue the home team’s frustration. He picked a high serve off the head of David Ryanbynchuk in the box with nine minutes left, then used his foot to deny Herdt four minutes later.
Hogan made a nice save of his own against LaCava with a minute left, but it was too little too late for Northern against this hungrier group of Warriors. (NB). (NB). (NB). Hughes 2, Francis (NE), Adeniyi Keaton, LaCava (NE), Herdt
12 (NE), 14 (NB). Blomgren 12 (NE), CHogan 9
PDS 3, SOUTH HUNTERDON 1 PRINCETON >> Wesley Leggett tallied twice to help the Panthers get past the Eagles.
Ricardo Martinez added a goal and an assist as Princeton Day School won its fifth game. Armstrong (SH), Cedeño, Martinez (PDS). 6 (SH), 20 (PDS). Paventi 11 (SH), Sparks 2, Sood 2 (PDS).