OH YES: Princeton Day School girls soccer player Tochi Owunna scores an opponent during a game earlier this season. Senior star defender Owunna helped shore up the backline as PDS got off to a 5-0-1 start. The Panthers will host Hun School on September 28 and Notre Dame on October 2. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)
By Bill Alden
Tochi Owunna and her teammates on the Princeton Day School girls soccer team found themselves on their heels from the start when they hosted Allentown last Friday afternoon in a battle of the undefeated.
“We definitely got a little thrown off in our warmup,” senior defender Owunna said. “In the first half we were a little intimidated by them.”
But with Owunna and Ella McLaren working together to thwart Allentown star Bella Conti, the teams found themselves in a scoreless tie at halftime.
“It stayed on her, she is technically very advanced and very fast,” Owunna said of Conti. “Me and my other central defender, Ella, were communicating at the back and also making sure we were on top of her when she had the ball.”
After halftime, PDS gained momentum as they had more possession of the ball.
“In the second half, we came out ready to fight and ready to try to score,” Owunna said.
Although the Panthers didn’t score, they performed well in fighting to a 0-0 draw against the Redbirds after 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime.
“We were able to play so hard against a team that was technically advanced, athletically advanced and stronger than us,” Owunna said. “I think it was just amazing.”
Owunna’s partnership with sophomore McLaren has helped PDS develop a strong backline this season.
“We have good momentum. Last year it was me and Kirsten Ruf; Ella didn’t play in central defense except a few times,” Owunna said. “This year in pre-season we definitely worked on ourselves as a bottom two. By doing this in our first four or five games, we worked on our relationship as two central defenders.
By working on his game, Owunna has progressed individually.
“I changed club teams last year,” said Owunna, who is looking to continue her soccer career at the collegiate level. “I think being on a new team helped me get exposed to a higher level of play, which definitely helped me this year.”
PDS head coach Chris Pettit credited his players with putting together a strong performance as they took on Allentown’s high-flying team.
“It was a very educational match – the way they were organized, the intensity with which they played and the force with which they challenged us in a way that we have never been challenged,” said Pettit said. “I thought we were holding our own. We really struggled to overcome their numbers in midfield, and the speed and physicality with which they play.
After seeing his team struggle a bit in the first half to keep up with the Redbirds, Pettit emphasized three points in his halftime message.
“At halftime there were three things I wanted to improve on, one of them was being able to match their intensity, which I didn’t think I did,” Pettit said. “Secondly, we did our training job – we ended up getting ourselves out of position trying to do certain things. It’s like we have to get back to our game to be able to possess the ball. I thought as the game went on we grew in that sense. The third part was once we had the formation around we could then pass and move around. As the game went on we started to realize we could do it and it worked.
The Panthers took Pettit’s words to heart. “I told them at half-time: ‘The good news is we didn’t play very well and they were the better team, but it sucks, so now we can fix the problems. three things we control,’” Petit said. “I thought in the second half it was more equal but we were better in overtime. We had some good chances to win.
The partnership between Owunna and McLaren in central defense helped PDS control the game.
“Tochi is great – everyone looks at Tochi as a safety net for her speed and that definitely helps, but she does so much more,” Pettit said. “She and Ella work so well together because they are aggressive on defense, but they cover for each other. Their understanding is so good. Those two really give us the platform to build on and I think the backs, AJ (Szalabofka) and Emma (Burns), did well and Jen (Lightman) when she got in there.
The team’s stingy defense can keep the Panthers competitive even when their offense falters.
“I think the defensive shape overall bodes well, and when you have a defensive performance like that, you can have an off day like we did,” Pettit said. “Our possession was not where it should be; part of that was on us and you have to give credit to Allentown. When your defense can keep you in a game for 100 minutes without a score against an attack like that with Bella and so on, you’re still in the game.
With PDS improving to 5-0-1 with a 1-0 win over Princeton High last Saturday, Pettit believes the Panthers are in good shape a month into the season.
“I’m generally happy overall, defensively we were very solid,” Pettit said. “Last year, at the beginning, we gave up the first goal in every game. This year we were very solid there. He’s been clicking more offensively than last year, so that’s nice. My takeaway today is that we really held on and fought against a team that was successful today. They had intensity and we managed to hang with them. In previous years, I think we would have had more difficulty with this than we do today.
According to Owunna, the PDS will continue to offer it as the fall unfolds.
“I think for us it’s about finishing in the final third in big games like this and keeping our shape defensively,” Owunna said. “We kept our form very well and often kept teams offside.”
