KEY PERFORMER: Princeton High girls soccer player Alysse Kiesewetter, right, scores an enemy during a game this fall. Junior defender/midfielder Kiesewetter played both ends of the court for PHS going 8-8-2 this fall. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)
By Bill Alden
Although the Princeton High girls soccer team ended its season losing 2-0 to Manalapan in the first round of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Central Jersey Group 4 sectional tournament, Dave Kosa believed the score didn’t reflect how his team fought.
“We played really well, but some things didn’t go our way,” said PHS head coach Kosa, reflecting on the effort he put in from 11th-seeded PHS. series, as he faced a sixth-seeded Manalapan team that ultimately advanced to the title. section final. “We had a goal called back for an offside on a direct kick that you don’t normally see. On the second goal, the ball went out on the touchline, we thought it was ours. They scored from a corner. You take those two things and maybe it’s 1-1 instead of 2-0. What we take away from this is that when we play our best, we can hang with the best teams.
PHS didn’t play its best down the stretch as it lost six straight games to finish the fall with an 8-8-2 record, struggling to find the back of the net.
“We had a lot of injuries, we have five, six girls on the bench, it hurts,” Kosa said. “Throughout the season, even with an 8-2-2 record, we didn’t score a lot. We would win 2-1, 1-0.
Kosa was proud of how his players fared in the face of adversity.
“We have to admit that we held on,” Kosa said. “At the beginning, we were beating very good teams. I think our youth was a factor, the fact that we were asking four, five, six freshmen to play a lot of minutes. The way the schedule was set up, we played three games a week so we got exhausted. We held strong at the beginning, then we wore out towards the end of the season.
The Tigers suffered a significant loss early in the fall when junior midfielder Casey Serxner was out for the season with a leg injury.
“Casey will be back healthy next year, that’s one of the main reasons we didn’t score,” Kosa said. “She was at the center of a lot of what we do – she’s a great distributor and scorer.”
The team’s seniors, Sofia Mauger, Hilary Chessler, Lucia Salvato, Rowan Gilmore, Evie Kirby, Julia Tharney and Sofia Jaffe have done a lot of good things over the years.
“They have shown great commitment and dedication to the program,” Kosa said. “When they were freshmen, I had them on the JV team and it was nice to see the progress. Last year they enjoyed going to the national finals and getting that experience and this year they helped us be really competitive. We will certainly miss them.
Two juniors, Holly Howes and Alysse Kiesewetter, made great strides this fall, being named Mercer 33 recipients and selected to the Central Jersey Top 20 by the New Jersey Girls Soccer Coaches Association.
“Holly really took it to the next level, knowing she was going to be the top scorer,” said Kosa, who got good play this fall from freshmen Romy Johnson, Kacey Howes, Clara Burton, Quinn Gallagher and Leila Hodgett. with sophomores Marina Zaldarriaga and Ava Tabeart and junior Brielle Moran. “A lot of teams were following her and she still managed to score nine goals. Alysse played from a full back position, but when we needed attack, she moved to the outside of midfield and scored eight goals. Some of them were major goals. She was so versatile. I call her our defender because when she was on the back line, no one was scoring on her side. They are two great competitors and they had great seasons for us.
Kosa believes the Tigers are poised for a great season in 2023.
“I think we’re going to get back into the swing of things,” Kosa said.
“I’m really excited, we’ll have a great senior class next year. We had seven or eight really good freshmen that got a lot of time this year and contributed. I think these next few years are going to be exciting for us.
