October 22, 2014

Shorthanded Due to a Number Of Injuries, PHS Girls’ Soccer Struggling to Find Rhythm

ON THE DEFENSIVE: Princeton High girls’ soccer player Emily Pawlak tracks the ball during a game earlier this season. Senior defender Pawlak has been trying to hold the fort as the Little Tigers have been hit by the injury bug. PHS, which fell 6-0 to Allentown last Thursday to drop to 7-5-1, starts play in the Mercer County Tournament this week. The Little Tigers are seeded 9th in the MCT and are slated to play at No. 8 Ewing on October 25 in a first round contest.(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

ON THE DEFENSIVE: Princeton High girls’ soccer player Emily Pawlak tracks the ball during a game earlier this season. Senior defender Pawlak has been trying to hold the fort as the Little Tigers have been hit by the injury bug. PHS, which fell 6-0 to Allentown last Thursday to drop to 7-5-1, starts play in the Mercer County Tournament this week. The Little Tigers are seeded 9th in the MCT and are slated to play at No. 8 Ewing on October 25 in a first round contest. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Despite being shorthanded due to a number of injuries, the Princeton High girls’ soccer team battled Notre Dame on even terms in the early going when the rivals met last week.

Displaying some scrappy play, PHS thwarted a number of Irish runs and the teams went into halftime locked in a 0-0 stalemate.

“The 11 that I chose to put out on the field to begin did a great job of defending and then trying to build when we won the ball,” said PHS head coach Val Rodriguez.

“We had a little bit of fire when we put some subs into the game. They generated a few things in the first half.”

In the second half, though, Notre Dame generated the offense as it scored three unanswered goals to pull away to a 3-0 win over the Little Tigers.

“We got a little bit flat and we had a couple of defensive breakdowns,” said Rodriguez, in assessing the second half.

“We didn’t keep our shape to build anything and then it is injury after injury. I was down to one sub by the end of today’s game from a 20-girl roster.”

For PHS, having senior striker and top offensive threat Shannon Pawlak sidelined for the rest of the season due to a leg injury has proven to be a huge problem.

“We have to find a way to have a target up top to somewhat replace Shannon,” said Rodriguez, whose team struggled again last Thursday as it fell 6-0 at Allentown in dropping to 7-5-1.

“We never found a rhythm today, we had to keep shifting people from one spot to another. Shannon could go forward and have high pressure on her back, get the ball and keep it for a couple of seconds and be able to dish it off or turn and shoot. She did it very, very well.”

With the Mercer County Tournament starting this week, Rodriguez is hoping that PHS can find a rhythm down the stretch.

“Getting healthy is a big piece of it,” said Rodriguez, whose squad is seeded 9th in the MCT and is slated to play at No. 8 Ewing on October 25 in a first round contest. “We have some positive stuff, they are doing their best.”