PRINCETON — The Princeton Day School and West Windsor-Plainsboro High North varsity boys’ soccer teams are getting there.
Many will look at the PDS Panthers’ record and say they are getting there faster.
Talk to their coaches, however, and you will understand that, with a well played game Tuesday at Jan Baker Field, each club still needs work, although they’re heading in the right direction.
Again, head coach Gary Roberts’ Princeton Day squad seems further along because it pulled out a 1-0 overtime victory over the Northern Knights yesterday to improve to 3-0 on the season.
Head coach Venkat Ramaprasad’s hard-working WW-P North team, meanwhile, dropped to 0-3 with their second straight OT setback.
From the time Sahas Adepu cranked the ball off the post 10 minutes into the game, the visitors dominated play in the first half, yet could not put in a shot.
The home side evened out play in the second half and came close to winning in regulation when Mathias Ramos ripped a left-footed shot off the crossbar with 7:17 left.
“We all thought that went in for a second,” Panthers junior forward Keegan Fullman said.
Things stayed even until 6:40 remained in the first 10 minutes of overtime.
Then, PDS junior midfielder Aiden George cleared a ball near the center line and sent it ahead to his classmate.
Fullman darted ahead to the side of Northern Knights’ senior goalkeeper Suneel Paladugu with the 6-foot-2 ’keeper and a fullback to beat.
Even though Paladugu did a good job of cutting down the angle, Fullman slotted the ball into the far side of the net for his Colonial Valley Conference-leading fifth goal of the season.
“I definitely thought I could score on that play,” Fullman said. “When I turned, I could see all the space. Once I hit the ball – after a second – I thought it was going in.”
It was an exciting end for the Panthers, and another frustrating end for WW-P North.
“It was a good team effort. It was just tough that we couldn’t make anything happen up front,” Northern Knights senior fullback Devansh Mohta said. “We got a bit unlucky on that last play.”
Both will keep working harder to reach their desired results.
Princeton Day School will get its toughest test yet when Steinert visits Thursday. Meanwhile, that same day, the boys from West Windsor-Plainsboro North head to Hamilton West in hopes of getting their first positive result.
WW-PNorth(0-3) 0 0 0 — 0
PDS (3-0) 0 0 1 — 1
Goal: Fullman (PDS); Assist: George (PDS).
Shots: 9 (WWN), 8 (PDS); Saves: Paladugu 6 (WWN), Lemole 8 (PDS).
