SEEING RED: Princeton High field hockey player Kate Liggio, right, battles a Lawrenceville player for the ball last Thursday evening in the Mercer County Tournament semis. Senior Liggio scored the lone goal for PHS in the contest as it fell 4-1 to the Big Red, who went on to win their fourth straight country crown. The Tigers, who dropped to 13-3-1 with the loss, will start action in the Central Jersey Group 4 sectional where they are seeded second and slated to host a quarterfinal contest on October 23. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

After having fallen to Lawrenceville 4-2 in a regular season contest on September 14, the Princeton High field hockey team was fired up to get a rematch against the Big Red in the Mercer County Tournament semifinals last Thursday evening.

“Losing to them the first time provided some inspiration for tonight,” said PHS head coach Heather Serverson. “We always want to beat Lawrenceville.”

Displaying some inspired defensive play in the first half in the game played at Lawrence High in windy, chilly conditions, PHS held the fort as Lawrenceville dominated possession but led only 1-0 at intermission.

“It is always a pressured situation defensively when you are playing Lawrenceville,” said Serverson. “Our goal was to just try to keep our cool, play as a unit, and make sure that everyone is marked up.”

In the second half, Lawrenceville was able to get the first two goals to go up 3-0 and didn’t look back on the way to a 4-1 win.

“Lawrenceville played really well,” said Serverson. “I think that they connected better than we did and we have some things to work on.”

PHS kept playing hard to the end as senior Kate Liggio scored with 5:28 left in regulation to narrow the gap to 3-1 but  the Big Red responded by scoring its fourth goal 27 seconds later.

“It is something that we have been working on,” said Serverson, referring to her team’s fighting spirit. “I am glad that they didn’t give up and they continued to fight.”

Serverson acknowledged that her squad struggled to find an offensive rhythm against the powerful Big Red, who went on to beat Stuart Country Day 1-0 in the final on Saturday to earn their fourth straight county crown

“We were very fragmented,
we didn’t read the way that Lawrenceville was playing today,” said Serverson.

“Their defense was solid and nothing got through them. We started a little too late to cut in front of them and we couldn’t connect.”

In Serverson’s view, her team’s run to the MCT semis should help the Tigers as they head into the state
public tournament.

“We need to play every game as if we are playing a team like Lawrenceville,” said Serverson, whose team, now 13-3-1, is seeded second in the Central Jersey Group 4 sectional and is slated to host a quarterfinal contest on October 23.

“Moving into the states, we look strong. We are almost fully healthy. We look at it as another opportunity to do something good.”