County’s Final Four ready to rumble
The four girls soccer teams which gather on Monday night at Hopewell Valley’s Ackerson Field for the semifinals of the Mercer County Tournament have a combined record of 613-5. So, yeah, you won’t want to miss this.
The winners advance to Thursday’s final at TCNJ (5 p.m.).
Here’s a breakdown of the what’s on tap: NO. 3 PDS (15-0-1) VS. NO. 2 PENNINGTON (14-0-1), 5 P.M. >> These two prep sides tied, 0-0, less than two weeks ago, so they know each other very well. Pennington had the better chances in that contest, but couldn’t score against PDS’ stingy defense.
Anchored by goalkeeper Grace Barbara and defenders Madison Coyne and Rebecca Kuzmicz, the Panthers have kept a cleansheet in 13 of their 16 games.
But unless the plan is to take the game to penalty kicks (and it’s not), Pat Trombetta’s team has to find a way to generate more scoring chances.
“I believe the fans were treated with a fast-paced, open style game first time around,” Trombetta said. “It was a fun game to coach with both teams making tactical adjustments throughout trying to exploit certain matchups.”
For example, the Red Raiders shifted defender Devon Duch from the right to the left in order to neutralize the attacking threat of Damali Simon-Ponte. Look for co-coaches Dr. Bill Hawkey and Pat Trombetta to do it again.
Keep an eye on Pennington senior Andrea Amaro. She’s been on fire lately, scoring seven goals in the last six games. She was the star of the championship game in 2014 as a sophomore.
Pennington is chasing a record 10th MCT title.
“We went undefeated in our regular season, which is really big for us,” sophomore defender Mary Griswold said. “We’re just trying to win (the) MCT and go into the prep (tournament).”
PDS, the 2013 champion, reached the semifinals last year before falling to eventual winner Notre Dame. NO.5NOTREDAME(15-2-2)VS.NO. 1 HOPEWELL VALLEY (17-1-1) >> All the pressure is on John McGinley’s Bulldogs as they try to win their first county crown. They carved through the CVC like a buzzsaw, compiling a 13-0 record against the league. They get to play this game at home.
But, historically, they’ve struggled in this round. Although, they’ve reached the final in 2013 — their only appearance in the championship game — they’ve gone out at this stage in three of the last four years.
This is a veteran group, though, with seven senior starters, so Hopewell won’t be fazed by the moment.
“We’ve just had an incredible season so far,” said senior Katarina Nilsson, who leads the area with 27 goals. “We’ve been playing great, we have great chemistry, we have great talent, and most importantly, we’ve just been an excellent team and it’s giving us a lot of motivation.”
Nilsson is the only player on the Hopewell roster who played in that 2013 final, but to get back there, they’ll have to beat defending champion Notre Dame.
Ken Mason’s Irish are unbeaten in their last 11 and coming off a 2-1 win over fourthseeded Steinert in the quarterfinals.
When these two met early in the season, the Bulldogs scored in the opening minute of each half and romped to a 5-0 victory.
“We’re way better than that,” said ND senior Haley Skove, who is second to Nilsson in the golden boot race with 23 goals. “We’re going for them because we know that we can.”
McGinley expects a different game, too.
“Sometimes you catch a team early and things bounce your way,” McGinley said. “They’re playing a lot better. They’ve grown as a team because they were young, but they’re not playing young. It’s going to be battle. It’s a really good team and I give them credit for going into Steinert and winning. It shows you what kind of kids they have.”