Princeton senior goalkeeper Jonathan Sanchez kicks the ball during an 8-0 win over McKinney. Photo by Jerry Winfrey / C&S Media
By David Wolman
The Princeton boys soccer team entered last week’s action on the wrong end of a pair of tough losses.
The Panthers fell to Prosper Rock Hill 4-1 on Feb. 17 despite outshooting the Blue Hawks 33-6. A few days later, Princeton held a 1-0 lead over Plano but surrendered two goals over the final 13 minutes in a 2-1 loss. The second Wildcats goal came with one minute remaining in regulation.
Princeton took out those frustrations — and then some — in an 8-0 mercy-rule victory over McKinney at Jackie Hendricks Stadium on Feb. 24.
“We’ve been in good form lately, creating a lot of scoring chances, specifically through wide combination play, but we’ve just been unfortunate with the results,” head coach Kent Ackmann said. “Sometimes it just takes that one moment to unlock the mental part of converting those scoring chances. Playing on the front foot and being aggressive early has been vital to us all year. When we’ve been able to score early in matches this year, it just opens everything else up. That’s exactly what happened Tuesday night when we scored three goals in the first 10 minutes of the match.”
Sophomore Al Lopez, who scored one goal in each of the games against Rock Hill and Plano, continued his strong form with three goals in the first 10 minutes against McKinney.
“Al has been tremendous all year,” Ackmann said. “He’s just so active from the forward position and does so much for us in possession and out of possession. He’s been in good form recently scoring goals, but he also leads the team in assists. He creates so many scoring chances with his energy and buy-in to what we want to achieve in the attacking third.
“He’s a high-character guy who leads by effort on the field and does all the right things off the field, particularly in his mental and physical preparation.”
Princeton also received goals from seniors Ryan Garcia, Eric Bautista and Ade Omosanya, junior Ivan Olvera and freshman Aydin Franco.
The match ended via the mercy rule with seven minutes remaining after the Panthers scored their eighth goal. It was Princeton’s first mercy-rule victory since posting one at the Baytown tournament last year.
Defensively, the Panthers received solid performances from senior goalkeeper Jonathan Sanchez, Bautista, junior Derek Mireles, senior Jacob Betancourt and first-year varsity defenders junior Hamad Faisal and freshman Angel Gomez.
That same night, the Princeton Lady Panthers played to a 0-0 draw against McKinney, marking the team’s first shutout of the season.
Both teams generated scoring opportunities in each half but were unable to find the net.
Princeton received strong play from its two goalkeepers, sophomore Hillary Macias and freshman Knox Phelps.
“The defense went into the game having trained hard for the past week,” head coach Ryan Gerfers said. “They had made their minds up that it was time to stop being everyone’s Senior Night. They wanted to end the Senior Night curse. They definitely stepped up and played their best game of the season.”
Unfortunately for Princeton, it was unable to build on that result, falling 4-0 to Allen on Friday. The Panther boys also lost to the Eagles, 4-1. Allen scored three second-half goals to extend a 1-0 halftime lead. Mason Leslie recorded a hat trick for the Eagles, who led 4-0 with 17 minutes remaining.
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