Pennington boys run over Hun
PENNINGTON — With a team as deep and talented as the Pennington School boys soccer has been over the last four years, Michael Bergen has learned to be very opportunistic.
Take what presents itself and run with it.
That has been the perfect motto for this senior midfielder on a team with many scoring options.
Bergen, who has already committed to play soccer at the College of the Holy Cross next fall, was in the right place at the right time twice in the second half yesterday and the Red Raiders benefited by getting past Hun, 4-2.
“You’ve got to make sure you are always making the run,” Bergen said. “You never know what Ethan (Decker) and Pat (Devlin) are going to do. You’ve got to be ready for anything.”
Likewise, opposing teams have to be watching what all of the Red Raiders are doing.
Such was the case when Decker took a free kick with 12:47 remaining and Pennington holding a 2-1 advantage.
Bergen headed toward Decker’s kick at the far post, just as Hun goalkeeper Chris Meinert charged the ball. Bergen got there first and got a toe on the ball to knock it into the vacated net.
“Most free kicks are usually more team than individual to each other,” Bergen said. “We just made a connection quickly that they weren’t ready for.”
That was not the case most of the afternoon as the Raiders took the Red Raiders a little by surprise.
With Pennington fresh off a championship in the Diadora/Cardinal Classic in South Kent, Conn. last weekend, and Hun not having scored a goal in its first three games, most were shocked to see the Raiders draw even with their hosts before the half.
“Once we started passing and playing our game, it was definitely different,” Hun junior midfielder Andres Gonzalez said. “We realized that we are a good team. We just had to do what we need to keep doing every game: know how we play and not get nervous.”
The Raiders caused some nerves on the other end of the sideline when Gonzalez led sophomore Foster Brand for Hun’s first goal of the season with 31:50 left in the first half.
The fact that it came 1:23 after Pennington senior Anders Nilsson opened scoring by converting a pass from junior Charlie Paige was equally rewarding for coach Pat Quirk’s team.
“It was definitely reason to keep playing and not get down,” Gonzalez said. “We start scoring, then we turn those scores into wins. That’s all we have to do.”
Pennington recovered from its slight malaise 10 minutes into the second half when Decker connected on a pass from Henry Bonilla to put the home team in front to stay.
Bergen took care of the rest, adding a second goal when he converted a lead from Bonilla with 9:18 to go.
But Hun would not go away as Gonzalez led senior Nick Revano for his team’s second goal with 5:05 left in the game.
While that was rewarding for the Raiders, the outcome, despite the win, was not as comforting to coach Chad Bridges’ team, which has a tough week ahead.
“We need to play like we did last weekend,” Bergen said of Pennington’s upcoming games at Trenton Catholic Academy tomorrow and at home versus St. Benedict’s Saturday. “We played really well last weekend. It was a team effort all around. We knew we didn’t have Decker (who was playing with Red Bull Academy at Gillette Stadium). One of our center mid-fielders got a red card first game, so it was tough for a few guys to step in and play. We’ve got to come out and play like we did in Connecticut.”
As Bergen well knows, a big part of that is being opportunistic.