PDS faces former coach Trombetta in sectional final
When the Princeton Day School girls soccer team shows up at Maria Gatta Park in Oceanport on Tuesday afternoon to contest the Non-Public A sectional final against Trinity Hall there will be a familiar face on the opposing bench.
The Monarchs are coached by Pat Trombetta, the man who put the PDS program on the map in Mercer County over 14 seasons in which he won 177 games, eight Prep B championships and the 2013 Mercer County Tournament title.
But what many don’t realize is Trombetta’s work behind the scenes that helped get the Panthers to this point. It was always a dream of his to have PDS join the NJSIAA so it would have the opportunity to compete for state championships.
By the time that happened three years ago, Trombetta had stepped down from his post and reemerged in charge of Trinity Hall in the Shore Conference. So perhaps it’s fitting that if the Panthers are going to advance to the Non-Public A state final then they are going to have to beat Trombetta to do it.
“I’m extremely happy to see the continued success of the PDS girls soccer program,” Trombetta said shortly after his team advanced with a 2-0 semifinal victory over Red Bank Catholic. “Chris (Pettit) has done a tremendous job with this group and the team has responded well.”
The day is also going to carry some emotion. The senior group at PDS that includes captains Adriana Salzano, Tochi Owunna and Abby Weed played for Trombetta during his final season in 2020.
“It will be great to see some of my former players,” Trombetta said. “I’m proud to see how they excelled in their high school careers.”
Salzano cracked a smile when informed Trinity Hall would be the opponent.
“It’s going to feel a little different,” said Salzano, a Monmouth commit with 50 career goals, including a team-best 16 this season. “I love Coach T. He’s an amazing coach, a great one. That’s going to mean a lot to me. It’s going to be personal, so I definitely want to go out there and show him how far we’ve come in the last few years.”
Fifth-seeded PDS (15-2-3) reached the final after outlasting eight-seeded St. John Vianney in a penalty shootout, while thirdseeded Trinity Hall (15-3-1) beat second-seeded Red Bank Catholic, 2-0. The North Jersey final pits top-seeded Immaculate Heart (113-3) against second-seeded Mount St. Dominic (19-2). The two winners meet in Friday’s state final.
It’s already been quite the fall for the Panthers as they captured a share of the CVC Colonial Division title in their first season in the league. Now they are two wins away from a state title.
“We’ve got to appreciate it because they don’t come around every year. We’ve got to enjoy that,” third-year coach Chris Pettit said. “We’ve got to go into it feeling pretty confident. We don’t give up many goals, we move the ball around very well and we score from a variety of different places.
I’m excited for us to go there and put all of it on display.”
As for facing the team’s previous coach, Pettit said he and Trombetta have talked throughout the season and even planned to share scouting reports if either of them got knocked off in the semifinal.
“It’s a nice story,” Pettit said. But …
“I don’t know if he’s going to give me a scouting report on his own team,” Pettit laughed.