Hopewell Valley Central High School
Boys Soccer
Wednesday night, Hopewell Valley Boys Soccer hosted the Ravens from Robbinsville. Robbinsville entered the game with a record of 1-2, while Hopewell Valley came in undefeated at 2-0-1. At the end of the closely played game, Robbinsville prevailed 1-0. Robbinsville’s Brett Fried made 6 saves for the shutout in goal. While almost as good, Austin Roell had 5 saves for Hopewell Valley.
Field Hockey
Thursday night, the Princeton Tigers visited Hopewell Valley. Princeton showed their might, powering their way to a 6-2 win. Olivia Weir led the Lady Tigers with 3 goals while Bella DiNardo and Jocey Nociolo had goals for the Bulldogs. Mariel Haynes made 14 saves in the loss while Francesca diFaria only had to make 6 saves.
Football
The very first official meeting of the Pennington School (1-1) and Hopewell Valley Central (1-2) football teams occurred on Saturday and the play proved as big as the hype in this instant rivalry. Yet the biggest plays were made by Hopewell Valley who came out on top 14-12.
Hopewell Valley scored first in the second quarter on a 41yd pass from C.J. Szafranski to Dylan Eng with the conversion failing. During the third period, Hopewell Valley struck again on a 30 yard pass from Tim McKeown to Jake Lengle. HV converted the 2 point when McKeown pulled down a pass attempt and rush into the end zone. Just on the next possession, Xavier Brooks ran it 51yards to the Hopewell Valley 6-yard line. Brooks capped the drive with a 3 run. The extra point kick failed. With just over 2 minutes remaining, Pennington scored on a long pass and run from Max Gibbard to Marcus Robinson. HV’s defense came up with the biggest play of the game when they thwarted the possible game tying conversion.
Photo captions below – all HVSA photos by Paul Domboski
Feature Photo: Devin Higgins rushes to the edge against the Pennington School.
Photo #1. (soccer)Kenny Tagliarini shoots on Robbinsville goalie Brett Fried.
Photo #2 (soccer)Austin Roell soars for a stop in goal vs Robbinsville.
Photo #3. (football)Tommy Belsky protects the ball as he gets tackled by Pennington School.
Photo #4 Hopewell Valley’s Mariel Haynes watches a Princeton shot sail over the goal.
Photo #5. Bella DiNardo scores for Hopewell Valley versus Princeton.
Girls Tennis
The Tennis team has had a great season so far with 6 wins and only 2 losses. They started off strong with a 3-2 win against Notre Dame and 5-0 wins against both Trenton and Hamilton West. At Notre Dame, the second doubles team decided the match with a 6-4 third set win. The team then lost 0-5 against Princeton and 2-3 against Robbinsville in a close match. Despite losing 1-4 against Allentown last season, they won 4-1 this year with an exceptionally long and well-played match by Jacky Sun at second singles. They finished this past week with 5-0 wins against Nottingham and Ewing. First singles player Olivia Kim made a comeback against her opponent at Ewing, winning a third set 6-4.
Cross Country
Both the boys and girls cross country teams beat Steinert last week to improve to 3-0.
Leading the boys were Cormac Dow, Adam Golian, Ben Angwenyi, Arthur Kim, Ben Veale and Matt Tunkel. Leading the girls were Paige Dumont, Dorthy Wong, Sofia Venezia, Analea Nyktas, Liz Chandler and Rory Danieluk.
This week, both teams will run against Allentown on Monday and Trenton on Friday.
Hopewell Valley Soccer Association
D4 Girls
Jack’s Nursery v. Hamilton Devils. Hopewell’s Jack’s Nursery continues their unbeaten streak in the Inter County League, as they defeated Hamilton Devils on Sunday, by the score of 7-0. Jack’s Nursery opened the game with Sierra Mitchell drilling the ball into the back of the net from Ayla Mauk’s perfectly placed assist. The next two goals were by Carly Brant, who received a pass from Amanda Flanders in front of the goal; the second after Evy Lansing fired one from the right corner that bounced off the keepers hands, for Carly to put in the net. Evy continued to have good crosses, one which allowed Amanda F. to score, the other from a corner kick which Sierra M. powered into the goal. Both Carly B. and Sierra M. each had another goal, giving them both hattricks. These scores were facilitated by the accurate passing and speed from the offense of Lilly Gaglio, Megan MacDonald, Jaina Jackowski and Sonia Tenbarge.The defense, led by Hailey Addonizio, Charlotte Catlett, Bella Gaglio, and Lily Panzitta, continue to play solid, holding Hamilton to only five shots on goal. Chelsea Kent, in goal, achieved her sixth clean sheet of the year, only allowing 1 goal thus far into the season.
D3 Girls
On Saturday, Pixie Salon and m3 Studios played a very muddy game that ended in a 2-2 tie. Aarya Joshi and Daphne Edmond-Marietti each scored their first goals of the season! Sunday was a rough 4-2 loss. Angelyn Li and Kaylie Weeast each scored goals, but it was not enough to fend off a strong m3 offense.
The M3 girls broke a stagnant two-week long outcome of ties against Pixie Salon on Sunday, beating Pixie 4-2. Emily Simpson came out strong, breaking past the opposing teams defense for the first goal of the game only 2 minutes in. Pixie then reciprocated with a quick shot shortly after. The rest of the first half saw amazing defense from Carolan Falk, Eliana Fastag Rosenfield, and Tina Zheng, led by Emma Stowe. In the second half, the middies held the mid-line due to speed from Izzy Trupin and Kendra Gendusi, as well as impressive leg strength from Abigail Gola. Eleanor Farmer player outstanding in goal while the offense had its best game of the season. A perfect cross from Gracie Cooper landed right at Angie Wilson’s feet, which she tapped in for the second goal of the game. Minutes later, Wilson had a superb cross to Adhya Pandit, which she landed in the back of the net, followed immediately after by a rocket shot into the top right corner from Cooper.
D2 Boys
It’s Nutts v. Stellitano On a muddy Saturday morning, Liam Murray-Mazur opened scoring in the first quarter for It’s Nutts with a quick drive down the left side of the field. Collin Levesque netted the second goal for It’s Nutts. Stellitano scored early in the second quarter, but were unable to convert any further opportunities. Robert Litz led a strong It’s Nutts defense, while Charlie Cuccuini and Colin Mann provided strong support in midfield. Final score: It’s Nutts (2) – Stellitano (1).
It’s Nutts v. Wilson Apple Funeral Home It’s Nutts was in action again on Sunday vs. a strong Wilson Apple Funeral Home side, which opened up with four quick goals in the first quarter. Chase Stratuik soon found his stride in goal, denying multiple attempts by Wilson Apple along with scrappy defensive play by Oliver Rosenthal. Moving up to midfield in the fourth quarter, Rosenthal buried a cross from Taegan Levy for It’s Nutts lone goal. Final score: It’s Nutts (1) – Wilson Apple (5).
D3 Boys
HVSA Black v. Dicks Sporting Goods Patrick Schouten opened scoring for HVSA Black against a strong Dicks Sporting Goods side, burying a cross from Dylan Yasher. Yasher netted two unassisted goals, then combined with Schouten for HVSA Black’s fourth goal before the end of the first half, and with Ryan Batcha mid-way through the second half. Batcha scored HVSA Black’s final goal. Eddie Besant had multiple runs deep into Dicks Sporting Goods territory, with Will Antoun and Carter Horvath anchoring the HVSA Black defense. Final score: HVSA Black (7) – Dicks Sporting Goods (4)
HVSA Black v. Soccer Post HVSA Black played a physical, muddy, sliding game vs. Soccer Post on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Connor Batcha combined with a Dylan Yasher slide to kick off scoring at the end of the first half, then Alden Levy scored off a Yasher assist at the beginning of the second half. Yasher scored the final goal of the game midway through the second half. Despite multiple drives deep into HVSA Black territory and strong goaltending from the Soccer Post side, HVSA Black was able to hold them scoreless, aided by strong midfield plays from Nate Heiss, Stephen Bilobran, and Colin Moran. Final score: HVSA Black (3) – Soccer Post (0).
With great thanks to our correspondents including Heidi-Marie Weeast, Carly and Todd Brant, and Christian Heiss for HVSA and Paul Domboski for all the football and soccer HVRSD writes ups and photos, Paz Baum for tennis and Aaron Oldfield for Cross-country! If you would like to submit the write up for your team, please email [email protected]. Weekly deadline is Sunday at 8pm. Photos are encouraged.
