Despite controlling possession throughout its Mercer County Tournament opening round contest against visiting Stuart Country Day School last Saturday, the Princeton High field hockey team had nothing to show for its hard work 58 minutes into the game.

With the local foes knotted in a scoreless tie and the prospect of overtime looming, PHS sophomore midfielder Eleanor Wilkinson acknowledged that the Little Tigers were getting concerned.

“I think towards the end we got a little flustered,” said Wilkinson. “In the circle, they tended to crowd around each other and not be marking players. It was hard because there were so many people in the circle to get around.”

But with 1:50 remaining in regulation, Wilkinson got around the Stuart defense and slipped a shot into the cage as PHS prevailed 1-0.

The win improved the Little Tigers to 8-5-2 as they earned a quarterfinal matchup at No. 3 Robbinsville on October 17 with the winner heading to semis on October 19 at Mercer County Community College.

“I just saw that the ball was coming out,” said Wilkinson, recalling her tally.

“The goalie was slightly off her post so I figured I would sweep it in and try anything.”

In reflecting on her progress in her first varsity campaign, Wilkinson is looking to be more assertive around goal.

“I have developed more aggression,” said Wilkinson. “Our playing style is that we try to be more aggressive as a team and it has really helped me get going in the midfield.”

Following the example of her older teammates has helped Wilkinson gain a comfort level.

“The juniors and seniors are really nice role models,” said Wilkinson.

“They really help encourage everybody on the team, especially me, being a sophomore.”

PHS head coach Heather Serverson wasn’t encouraged by how the game was going as her squad failed to cash in on chance after chance.

“We had these excellent offensive transitions and then we just couldn’t finish,” said Serverson.

“Their goalie [Sam Johnson] did a great job. They were packing the goal so it was hard to pull them out.”

Serverson was not surprised to see Wilkinson break the ice. “Ellie has been consistent for us and steadily improving,” said Serverson. “She is only a sophomore so hopefully that is a sign of wonderful things to come. She is really doing a good job now on varsity.”

With PHS surviving the nail-biter, Serverson is hoping her players will take a good lesson from the win.

“I think that they learned that they have to bring their A-game every day,” said Serverson.

“You have to treat every game like it is the finals; anything is possible in tournament time. We weren’t playing that well in the beginning of the season and now we are playing much better. You have to anticipate that everyone is going to improve their game at this point.”

Wilkinson, for her part, believes the Little Tigers will keep improving down the stretch.

“We are a slightly younger team so I think as we have gone through the season, we have gotten to know each other,” said Wilkinson,

“We have started playing better together because we know what the tendencies of the players on our team are.”