Hopewell edges Princeton on PK in 2nd OT
Hopewell beats Princeton on penalty kick in 2nd OT
HOPEWELL TWP. >> With the Mercer County Tournament pairings not being picked until later this week, most thought the Hopewell Valley and Princeton High boys soccer teams were simply playing it safe when they met at Ackerson Field Monday.
The Bulldogs had a different view of this always big game.
After having dropped three of its last four games and four of their last six, head coach Ed Gola’s boys wanted to prove they were still a team with which to be reckoned even if close to half of their roster is now full of players who used to be on junior varsity.
So after a scoreless first half, Hopewell Valley started to pick up the pace against the Tigers, who entered the game having won six in a row.
No goals came in those second 40 minutes, then the first 10 minutes of overtime.
But when the Bulldogs kept charging in the second OT, their efforts were rewarded when a penalty kick was called 44 seconds into the final extra session.
Senior attacker Zach Crow stepped up to take the 1-on-1 chance versus Princeton junior goalkeeper Jared Bell and connected with a shot over the goalie’s head top give the home team an important 1-0 win.
“Princeton is always a big personal game for us,” Crow said. “We both played hard.”
Hopewell (10-4) showed a little more intent after surviving a tough first half with the help of new fullback Joe Gribbins, who blocked a chance by Tigers junior striker Nick Petruso in one of the rare, eye-widening opportunities when Bulldogs senior goalkeeper Liam May was caught off his line.
While Gribbins and fellow backs C.J. Colt, Anand Wetzel and Luke Harrison made life tough on the visitors, head coach Wayne Sutcliffe’s back line of Miles Ryan, Ethan Parker, Rafael Davis and Dylan Parker with extra outside help from Noah Lapoint and James Novak kept Hopewell Valley from taking advantage in the second half when it had a shot edge.
Joe Geary had a chance three minutes after intermission, but sent a shot over the far post, then in the final 15 minutes of regulation, newcomer Austin Warren sent two shots over the bar.
Bell had to make a high save on a head ball from Colt on a free kick by Josh Bangerter with under 10 minutes left before both teams started to scramble.
With 1:28 left, Gribbins came up big again when he kicked away another charge by Petruso, then Bell came up big again at the other end by swatting Ryan Molano’s shot. “We definitely started to pick it up in the second half,” Crow said. “We were playing way better than we had in the first half. As our new players have been stepping up, our goal has been to play better and better as the game goes on.”
Princeton (10-3) 0 0 0 0 — 0 HopewellVal.(10-4) 0 0 0 1 — 1
Goal: Crow (HV).
Shots: 7 (P), 9 (HV); Saves: Bell 8 (P), Crow 7 (HV).