Diop, Pennington drop Hopewell
PENNINGTON » If the showdown between the Hopewell Valley High and Pennington School boys soccer teams played under the lights Saturday at Tom Liwosz Field was a preview of the Mercer County Tournament final, it should prove well worth the $5 admission Thursday, Oct. 26 at The College of New Jersey.
One day earlier, Hopewell had learned that it is the top seed for this season’s MCT, while two-time defending champion Pennington is the No. 2 seed.
And when the two met for their regularly scheduled local rivalry Saturday, it was like watching a college match.
Back and forth the sides went — with big kick after big kick — until the Red Raiders emerged with a 2-1 win.
“Their people up top are so fast,” Bulldogs senior back Max De Los Santos said. “You had to watch them and body up or else they would beat you. They were so skilled.”
Pennington (10-3) had to be to stop what had been a nine-game winning streak for Hopewell Valley (12-3-1).
The most dangerous of them all proved to be senior striker Ibrahima Diop. While it is hard not to be aware of a player who entered the game having scored 15 goals this season, Diop has the kind of deceptive quickness which makes him doubly dangerous because of the exceptionally speedy teammates around him.
After the Bulldogs came closest to scoring early on when the Red Raiders’ Jared Panson had to hustle back to clear a shot from the goal line in the 14th minute, Diop opened scoring when he kicked in a nifty header from Panson with 15:20 left in the first half.
Nearly three minutes later, the visitors responded when Jared Burnett headed in a free kick from Max Wills.
The game stayed even for the next 42 minutes until Diop created an opening once again.
This time the Senegal native started the play with his back to the goal in order to receive a pass from freshman Jack Borden. With two defenders around him, Diop turned on the ball and cracked the game-winner into the net with 10:24 to play.
“This game was played at a high level,” Diop said. “It was very hard playing in front of a big crowd like this (800-plus fans). But we were excited for this game and for the tournaments coming up.”
Both teams have good reason to be after Hopewell, which will host Princeton (10-2-1) at 7 p.m. Monday, came close to tying the game once more with 2:30 left when Wills again served a free kick onto the head of Burnett. But this time, the shot went wide.