Despite two upsets for WW-P soccer teams over the past two weeks, with the North boys’ team and the South girls’ team each guttering their first losses of the season, all four of the district’s soccer teams seem to be at the head of their games.
Given its recent track record, losing a regular season game may seem unheard of to the North boys’ soccer team, but hope is not all lost for the Knights’ season, which stands at 6-1-1 after the team’s first loss to Notre Dame.
For the past two consecutive years, the Knights have claimed the state sectional title. But facing adversity is nothing new to the team, which two seasons ago pulled out of a slump near the end of the season to bounce back and win the sectional title. And given the team’s record this year, the team’s first loss to Notre Dame, 2-0, on October 3, shouldn’t sound any alarms just yet.
While Scott Kelly and Drew Eccleston, who led the team to a 19-2 record last season, are no longer on the field for North, along with 10 other of last year’s senior squad, other players, like Kevin Nowak and Nassir Silwany, have take leaderhip roles for the team, which looks just as strong as it has in the recent past.
The South boys’ soccer team is also having a good season, with only two losses — one to North — for a record of 8-2. This season is seeming already like an improvement over last year, when the boys finished 14-5-2. An important victory for South was its upset of Hun on October 5, 4-0.
A leader for the team this season has been Alex Prieto, who has scored a goal or more in almost every game for the Pirates. Prieto had one goal against Hamilton, two in the upset of previously undefeated Hun, two against Steinert, two against Hopewell Valley, and three against Nottingham.
But his teammates have also been a strong contributing factor in the team’s success this year, with Zach Rosenberg scoring twice against Hamilton, once against Hun, and also once against Nottingham. In addition, Mike Skapyak, Tom Savage, Steve McCarron, Sean Hazen, and Zach Mozenter have all scored goals.
The South girls are second in the CVC, despite their only loss to Hopewell Valley, 4-1, on September 29. The team has since bounced back — now with a 5-1-3 record — with wins over Hamilton and Steinert.
The Pirates have depth when it comes to scoring goals, with a handful of players coming up strong at different times. Against Hamilton, Michelle Morris had two goals, with Brittain Dearden adding one more. Against Nottingham, Vicki Matthews, who is fourth in the CVC for goal-scoring, with seven goals so far this season, was a huge factor, with four goals, in the Pirates’ win. Dearden also added two goals in that game. In a tie with Steinert, Ally Schwartz was the lone scorer, while against Hopewell Valley, Dearden was the only Pirate to tally a goal.
But the North girls, who are now at 5-2-1, are not far behind South and are looking poised to overcome last year’s record of 8-9. Moving up into the large school division — the Colonial Division — has not proved to be a problem for the Knights.
Two of the blemishes in North’s record this season come from their two closest competitors — South and Notre Dame. Despite losing to the latter, the Knights were able to hold South to a tie last month and seemed able to handle most other competitors so far. North’s leading scorer Jackie Kercheval is second in the CVC for the number of goals scored, 10, and is only one goal away from the top spot.
