STICKING WITH IT: Princeton Day School field hockey player Kiely French, left, marks a foe from Allentown last Thursday as the teams met in the semifinals of the Mercer County Tournament. Senior defender and captain French helped the second-seeded Panthers pull out a 3-2 win in overtime against the third-seeded and defending champion Redbirds. PDS fell 3-0 to eighth-seeded Lawrenceville School in the MCT title game on Saturday. The Panthers, now 14-4, will be competing in the state Prep B tourney where they are seeded first and host fourth-seeded Pennington in the semifinals on October 27 with the winner advancing to the title game on October 30. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Kiely French couldn’t stop smiling after the Princeton Day School field hockey team rallied to edge Allentown 3-2 in overtime last Thursday evening in the Mercer County Tournament semifinals.

It was a surreal moment for French, the senior stalwart of the program who hung in there through some lean times as the Panthers posted a 2-14 record in her sophomore year and then went 6-13-1 last fall.

“I am immensely happy; it is just this great feeling of joy to see the juniors and sophomores grow,” said French.

“On the field I am the lone senior. It is insane how far we have come just during the season. I am so happy.”

The second-seeded Panthers showed how far they have come in the semis, rallying from deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 against third-seeded and defending champion Allentown to pull out a 3-2 nailbiter on an overtime goal by Sasha Sindhwani.

“When they first jumped out, I think it was definitely a surprise,” said French.

“We know how to get back the lead; we definitely know how to recuperate from them scoring. We go hard, that is how we play, that is Panther field hockey.”

After falling behind 2-1 with 7:20 left in regulation, the Panthers forced overtime on a goal by Gretchen Lindenfeldar with 3:13 remaining and were ready to play the 7-on-7 extra time format rather than the regular 11 players.

“It is totally different,” said French of overtime. “When we played Germantown Academy (Pa.) it was 2-2 and we went to 7-on-7. We didn’t have to because it wasn’t a league game. We just wanted to for preparation and that definitely helped today. From that, we learned what we needed to do.”

As the season started, French had the feeling the Panthers could learn from their 5-2-1 finish in 2015.

“We were starting to come on that path,” said French. “I think we had the momentum from last year and with the help of everybody else, we have improved an insane amount this year.”

Leading the team’s back line, French helps keep the Panther defense in order. “At the beginning of the season I talked so much more,” said French. “I directed people where to go. I still do that but everybody is starting to fall into place automatically. Everybody is on the same page.”

Although PDS fell 3-0 to eighth-seeded Lawrenceville in the MCT final, French believes the Panthers are on the right track as they will end the season by competing in the state Prep B tourney where they are seeded first and host fourth-seeded Pennington in the semifinals on October 27 with the winner advancing to the title game on October 30,

“We have to keep playing our game and PDS Panther field hockey,” said French, who also stars for the PDS girls’ hockey and softball teams.

“It is just playing hard and having heart, I think as long as we keep that up we will be fine.”