HAMILTON – The offensive numbers favored Steinert, the goalkeeper stats favored Hopewell Valley and the final score favored no one. Despite dominating possession throughout the contest, the Spartans could only salvage a 1-1 tie with the Bulldogs in a Colonial Valley Conference Colonial Division match Thursday. Now winless against HoVal (0-5-1) since 2019, Steinert had a 13-4 advantage in shots on goal and an 8-0 edge in corner kicks. But Hopewell had keeper Ethan Peck, who made 11 saves and preserved a point in the standings for his team. “They did a good job coming up the middle and getting scoring opportunities, no doubt about that,” HoVal coach Ed Gola said. “We’ve gotta work on getting more attack, resulting in a scoring opportunity or a corner kick. Something positive rather than not. We’ll take this game, watch the tape. We’ll see what we did well and what we didn’t do too well. “My defense played the whole game banged up and did a nice job. My goalie did a nice job. He plays with a lot of heart and does some great things. It’s early and there’s a lot of things to build on from a game like this.” The good news for Steinert (4-0-2) is that it remained undefeated, but coach Anthony Tessein felt his team should have one more victory. “It feels a little like a loss,” Tessein said. “We had a lot of possession, I think we created the better chances. Their goalkeeper made some very good saves. Their defense recovered really well, they put themselves in good positions to make it hard for us. But at the end of the day we had chances we should have finished and we didn’t. That’s why it feels disappointing.” All the scoring was done in the first half from guys who both tallied their first varsity goal. After several nice saves by Peck kept it scoreless, Hopewell (2-3-1) got into the final third for one of the few times in the half and sophomore Edward Lee sent a cross into an open net for a 1-0 lead. With just under 10 minutes left, Sam Narkun beat his defender to the ball and slid one into the short side to tie it. From there it became a series of frustrations for the Spartans as Peck made saves on challenging shots from Elliott Morris, Narkun and Chris Vega-Ramirez. Near the end of the first OT, he made a diving stop on a Morris shot. For most of the game, Hopewell was stymied from getting into the Steinert end of the field as the Spartan midfielders continue to defend well. “I’d like to think we’re really well organized on defense and my midfielders are a part of that,” Tessein said. “The goal was a little unlucky, some miscommunication on our part. That’s how it goes.” Steinert midfielder Chris DiMarco played a pesky game, often buzzing around the ball and making things happen as he assisted on Narkun’s goal. “This is one of the most tenacious teams I’ve ever had,” Tessein said. “It’s just built into some of these guys. We’ve won more 50-50s than I can remember and Chris is a big part of that. You see him make a big sprint out of nowhere and that energizes people.” Gola was looking for some energy from his team, which is why he dropped striker Michael Muscente back to midfield in the second half. Muscente had four goals in the Bulldogs two wins but got barely any touches in the first half. “It was a combination of wanting him to get some touches, and Michael brings a sense of energy and we were sometimes lacking energy in the middle of the field,” Gola said. “There’s no sense having a guy up top who’s not getting the ball. Hopefully we would get some energy and get the ball a little more. Toward the end of the second half and overtime we got some opportunities.” It was the second straight double-overtime game for Hopewell, which went the distance in a win over West Windsor-Plainsboro North Tuesday. “That does a number on the legs,” Gola said. “Right now we’re still working things out. It’s no excuse, but a couple of the guys were banged up a little bit so we tried to play some of the bench. “I’m happy that we didn’t lose. It shows we’re showing some resiliency playing back-to-back double overtime games and not losing. We still have things to work on.” At this stage, every team has things to work on. But Tessein is happy his team has shown some spirited vigor in the first two weeks. “I had multiple players making full field sprints with less than a minute left,” he said. “One hundred minutes of soccer, most of these guys played the whole game and they’re still putting in a shift like that. “Today it didn’t happen but at the end of the season they know their teammates are able to make that run, they know their teammates are gonna put that effort in. Hopefully by the end of the year that stuff comes together in front of the goal. The effort is there, the organization is there. A little to the right, a little to the left and it’s different. The soccer gods weren’t on our side.” Hopewell (2-3-1) 1 0 0 0 – 1 Steinert (4-0-2) 1 0 0 0 – 1 G: H-Lee, S: Narkun. A: S-Dimarco. Shots: H-14, S-5. Saves: H-Peck 12. S-Chaykovskyy 3.