Pennington’s Balerna, Hun’s Hayes are our co-Prep Players of the Year
One was the creative force in the middle for the record Mercer County champion, the other the best player for a resurgent program that reached heights not seen in seven years.
Pennington’s Stephanie Balerna and Hun’s Riley Hayes are our girls soccer CoPrep Players of the Year.
Balerna finished her senior campaign with 10 goals and 11 assists as 15-3-2 Pennington captured the Mercer County Tournament title for the third straight time and 12th overall.
The High Point University-bound midfielder embraced the starring role that comes with wearing the No. 10 shirt at Pennington and delivered a POY season.
“It’s kind of like playing the quarterback on a football team,” Balerna said. “You switch the ball, you have to be in the right position all the time, you’re winning the ball out of the back. You have to show the team how you’re playing and let the energy build off mine.”
One year after failing to win a game in a COVID-marred season, Hayes and Hun roared back to relevance with a 12-5-2 record that included a pair of wins over Pennington.
In what was arguably the Game of the Year in Mercer County, Hayes tallied the winner in overtime to give the Raiders a thrilling 4-3 victory in the Prep A title game.
“One key thing that we had was grit,” Hayes said after her side’s first Prep A triumph since 2014. “We’ve been doing it since preseason and that’s been our core value. We just laid it out on the field.”
Hayes, a junior, finished the season with 15 goals and four assists.
Hun’s Prep Coach of the Year Jennifer Barrett summed up her contribution perfectly.
“She is a phenomenal player,” Barrett said.
Other First Team All-Prep selections were Pennington’s Morgan Kotch, Reagan Amberson and Jenna Bluni; Hun’s Olivia Spektor, Kiki Mauer and goalkeeper Zoey Palmer; Princeton Day’s Adriana Salzano
and Aislynn Macco; and Peddie’s Alessia Codella.
Kotch scored 28 goals in a breakout sophomore season for Pennington, while Amberson and Bluni teamed up in central defense.
Spektor scored two goals, including a rocket in the Prep A final, to go with five assists, while Mauer and Palmer were rock solid in the back for Hun.
Salzano followed up a strong debut season with 13 goals as a sophomore and Macco, who has one of the best left foots in the area, had five goals and 15 assists for the Panthers.
Codella had an outstanding senior campaign, putting in 15 goals and adding four assists for the Falcons.