Without a doubt, the most anticipated games of the season for boys soccer were against the team’s biggest rivals, Pingry and Bridgewater. On Oct. 10, the boys were victorious against the Bridgewater Panthers with a score of 2-0, but fell short against Pingry on Oct. 17 by a score of 2-1.

The Bridgewater matchup was a challenging game for the boys with Bridgwater’s fast pace and high skill level posing problems. Despite this, they were not able to break through Hillsborough’s strong defense and goalie Daniel Guerrero-Nieto. After scoring two goals courtesy of sophomore Jalen Moni and junior Mark Rudden, Hillsborough pulled out a win.

“It felt really satisfying to beat Bridgewater,” senior Dimitri Ramirez said. “They are always a big rival so this was a huge confidence boost going into the next two weeks of our toughest games.”

A week later, the boys faced off against another big rival on their list for the season, Pingry. This game was an even more difficult match up for Hillsborough because Pingry had homefield advantage, a host of talented players on their team, and a well-organized attack. During the first half of the game Hillsborough was down 1-0, but during the last half of the game they dominated and battled back against Pingry tying up the score 1-1. Unfortunately for Hillsborough, Pingry was able to break through the boys defense ultimately winning the game 2-1.

“Despite the loss, the boys showed great willingness to persevere and I think their experiences in these games will help them as we continue the season with several more very difficult matches on our schedule,” head coach Eric Puma said.

Despite losing to Pingry, Hillsborough did beat one of their biggest rivals of the season in Bridgewater. If this shows anything about these boys, it is that they have the ability to persevere when faced with a challenge, so the rest of their season still looks to be very successful.