Notre Dame routs WW-P South
PRINCETON JCT. >> Score early. Score often.
Every team wants to do that. But in the Colonial Valley Conference this season, few can like the Notre Dame High boys soccer team.
So much so, that when the Irish visited West Windsor-Plainsboro High South Tuesday, they scored a minute into the game.
That’s right, one minute!
Senior midfielder Eli Thomas saw an opening from 35 yards out and buried it. From there, things only got worse for the host Pirates and better for the visitors, who cruised to a 5-0 victory.
“I saw the ball laying there, and I was open, so I made contact,” Thomas said of his strike. “I haven’t scored one that early in a while. It felt good.”
“It was a great goal,” WW-P South head coach Bryan Fisher said. “I still thought we responded well. But the difference between them and us is Notre Dame finishes its chances.”
Even though the Pirates spent a lot of time in the Irish end in the first half, it was the visitors who put the ball in the net. Sophomore forward Danny Bensch struck for his CVC-leading 17th goal when he converted a Chris O’Neill pass in the 13th minute.
Once again, WW-P South evened out play for the next 27 minutes, but with under 10 seconds left in the first half, sophomore transfer Aiden Hoenisch took a corner kick, which deflected to senior teammate Guiliano Silva at the top of the box, where he kicked in the Irish’s third goal.
“Sure, we gave up the early goal, but we can’t give up another with 10 seconds left in the half,” Fisher said.
The Pirates (7-5) tried to forget the first half, but never could connect to change the game.
Zoumana Konate sent a crossing shot just wide with 30:15 left in the second half, but that just seemed to upset ND’s defensive corps of Pedro Navroski, James Watson, Matt Jakim, Eric Suschke and John Caccavale. They tightened their ranks in front of goalkeepers Nick Wilke and P.J. White to allow just one other shot on goal the rest of the way and earn their team’s seventh shutout.
“We have a lot of chemistry. We feel we can beat any team out there,” Thomas said. “We just want to keep winning.”
And scoring as Thomas showed with 26:51 left when he headed home a corner kick from his classmate O’Neill.
Midway through the second half, Fisher pulled his entire starting lineup, only to see the Irish score a minute later when freshman James Ferraro knocked in a pass from Silva to help Notre Dame improve to 11-2. NotreDame (11-2) 3 2 — 5
WW-PSouth(7-5) 0 0 — 0
Goals: Thomas 2, Bensch, Silva, Ferraro (ND); Assists: O’Neill 2, Hoenisch, Silva (ND).
Shots: 12 (ND), 6 (WWS); Saves: Wilke 4, White 1 (ND), Mattson 6, JKiernan 1 (WWS).