FOUR SPOT: Princeton High boys’ soccer player Harvey Smith, center, heads to goal in recent action. Last Thursday, senior star midfielder/forward Smith scored four goals to help PHS defeat WW/P-North High 5-1. The Tigers, who improved to 2-1 with the win, host Allentown High on September 17 and then play at Westfield High on September 19. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Bill Alden
After helping the Princeton High boys’ soccer team win the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Group 4 state title in 2023 as a freshman, Harvey Smith took a two-year hiatus from the program to play for MLS Next Academy system.
By joining the MLS Next, Smith was subject to its rule restricting players from competing for their high school teams.
This fall, Smith decided to forego the MLS Next Academy to rejoin the PHS squad for his senior year and couldn’t be happier about the move.
“It is obviously great to be back,” said Smith. “There is something special about playing for your school. There is a certain pride in it that I love.”
Smith is looking to go out with a bang as he rejoins a bunch of his classmates for their final campaign at PHS.
“It is weird coming off a winning team and the feeling of ending on a win,” said Smith. “It felt like we were starting again. I am excited for this year, I have a lot of mates on this team. We have a big senior class, I think there are 16 of us. I am looking forward to this year.”
After not finding the back of the net in his first two games this season, Smith was looking for a breakthrough as the Tigers hosted WW/P-North High last Thursday.
“I didn’t get on the scoresheet on the first two games,” said Smith.
“I just wanted to come out and enjoy playing like I always do. That is the key.”
With PHS trailing the Northern Knights 1-0 in the early going, Smith took a pass and dribbled through the WW/P-N defense and blasted the ball past the goalkeeper to knot the game at 1-1.
“I just got it, there were no midfielders and Simon [Danos Peltekian] made a great run to drag one of the defenders out,” said Smith. “I knew I had space on the left so I just took it past him. I had the momentum on him, the keeper was shifting this way so I just had to put it to the other side. I thought I had to set the tone and lead more by example.”
Catching fire, Smith tallied two more goals in the next 30 minutes to give him a first half hat trick as the Tigers built a 3-1 halftime lead.
“It was good, everything just seemed fall my way,” said Smith. “I had three chances, three goals. Today I felt pretty good, pretty clinical.”
Getting another good chance early in the second half on a nice feed from Danos Peltekian, Smith cashed it in for his fourth goal of the contest.
“It was a beautiful pass by Simon, I just looked up and I had to toss it in,” said Smith. “I have a good connection with Simon. He is very direct and athletic. I saw the space and I knew he was going to find me.”
Minutes later, PHS got a goal from Riccardo Meloni on an assist from Smith as it ended up winning 5-1 in moving to 2-1.
“It was just to break the seal, 100 percent,” said Smith, reflecting on the offensive outburst. “I think it is hard the first couple of games, you don’t have a lot of chemistry. A breakthrough game like this should help moving forward.”
Smith is looking to step up when things get hard for the Tigers.
“I think my role is to lead not only by being the loudest on the field but more by example like today when we are down,” said Smith.
“It is just get on the ball and make something happen. Everyone sees that and thinks yeah we have him, we can feed off his energy and feed off his goals. I think that is what happened today.”
PHS head coach Ryan Walsh liked the way his players battled back from the early deficit.
“That is two games in a row now that we gave up a goal in the first minute,” said Walsh, who lost 2-1 in overtime to Marlboro on September 5. “It is not a good habit that we are getting into here, we have got to fix that. I am happy with the way the guys responded, just like I was on Saturday.”
Walsh is very happy to have Smith back on the team. “There is a reason why the guys voted Harvey captain, he took our team on his shoulders there in the first half,” said Walsh. “He is a special guy. He is playing a more attacking role than he plays at club. It is a different role for him too. He is learning it and we are figuring out what the best place is to players around him to get the best out of Harvey and get the best out of the team.”
In order to get on a roll, the Tigers will need the players around Smith to start producing more.
“We have other guys who are really good and we are hoping that they can step up,” said Walsh. “I know they have a lot of talent, we are definitely not quite
there yet.”
Smith acknowledged that the PHS defense needs to stiffen up.
“When we play pretty soccer sometimes we lose the ability to defend,” said Walsh, whose back line includes a trio of seniors in Kian Asiaie, Griffin Short, and Alborz Khorsandi and junior Bram Reynolds II along with junior goalie Alexander Wayne.
“We are playing ticky-tack soccer. We have to balance between being effective and being pretty. We have three seniors and Bram in the back four there.Those four are very talented and good players. They have great feet but we have to make sure that their first job is to defend the goal first.”
With PHS hosting Allentown High on September 17 and then playing at Westfield High on September 19, Walsh is confident that his team will get the job done.
“We are just taking things one day at a time,” added Walsh. “I think we are keeping the ball really well. We have a lot of skill and talent but we can be a little more urgent defensively in the scrums in the box and the set pieces. We haven’t been good enough, both in training and in these games.”
Smith, for his part, believes the win over WW/P-N will get the Tigers
“We had a good first win in overtime (1-0 over St. Joseph (Metuchen) on September 3) and then the overtime loss drained some energy,” said Smith. “I thought training this week felt a bit less energized than it did after our win. I think we are going to use this game as momentum.”