Irish tame Tornadoes
TRENTON — After an impressive off-season in which it opened eyes by winning the Mercer County summer league, the Trenton High boys soccer team has had trouble sustaining its success.
But that has not kept the fans away.
With the far sideline full and vocal yesterday, the Tornadoes tried to put their best feet forward as they hosted Notre Dame, one of the more successful teams in the Colonial Valley Conference since school returned.
Trenton kept the game exciting as Harin Lopez converted a penalty kick with 13:28 left to make it a one-goal affair.
However, the Tornadoes’ attempts to tie the game came back to hurt them when Brian Hawkins found Jacob Kwami open with 7:19 left to seal a 3-1 win for the Irish.
The win was Notre Dame’s eighth of the fall, while the loss dropped Trenton below .500 for the first time at 4-5.
“Things are getting better, but we’ve got to finish more,” Lopez said. “We’ve got to play smarter in the back as well.”
Lopez, the Tornadoes’ leading scorer after connecting on his eighth of the season yesterday, hit the nail on the head when asked about his team’s struggles.
“We’re not finishing the way we should be,” Trenton’s sixth-year head coach Dave Tindall said.
In nine games, Tindall’s troops have only managed 14 goals with Lopez scoring the bulk of those. They are looking for someone else to step up.
By comparison, the Irish have scored 35 goals in racing to an 8-1 start. Junior attacker Brian Hawkins has done the bulk of that damage with 16 goals and nine assists. He added a goal and two assists versus the Tornadoes.
As teams have tried to focus on the CVC’s leading scorer, it has opened holes for more of his teammates to crash through.
The visitors opened scoring 11:30 into the game when senior midfielder/back Matt Martinez pushed forward to cash in on one of Hawkins’ passes.
“(Brian) sent a cross from the side, which was deflected,” Martinez said. “I decided not to give up on the play and I followed it through; touched it around the goalkeeper to put it in. Not giving up on (the ball) is one of our goals.”
That nose for the goal keeps coach Mike Perone’s Irish on the offensive enough to cover for a growing defense. Hawkins put the home team more on its heels midway through the first half when he launched an impressive shot from about 30 yards out which dipped and skimmed the bottom of the crossbar as it sailed into the net to give Notre Dame a 2-0 lead at the half.
Trenton tightened its defense and kept the game close for the first 32 minutes of the second half until Hawkins broke free down the far sideline and centered the ball, which senior forward Kwami put away.
“I feel like getting three goals in each of our last two games really helped us out this week,” Martinez said, reflecting on ND’s recovery from its only loss to Allentown Sept. 26.
The Tornadoes would love to find a similar scoring groove as it tries to shake a three-game losing streak today when it hosts Willingboro at 4 p.m.