HOPEWELL TWP. — Charlotte Barnes had the toughest job on the field. The Hopewell Valley girls soccer senior was tasked with marking Lawrence’s Becca Boggs, one of the best players in the Colonial Valley Conference, for an entire match. Not only did Barnes accept the role, she did an excellent job of keeping Boggs quiet until the Cardinals’ junior finally wiggled away for one sequence in the second half and sent a thumping effort off the crossbar. When the ball bounced off the turf and somehow away from the goal — a real heart-in-mouth moment — the Bulldogs exhaled as they saw off the remaining 12 minutes and held on for a 1-0 victory in a CVC Colonial Division game on Senior Night at Ackerson Field. “Just staying on her back because she’s such a good player,” Barnes said. “She turns people non-stop, and what are you going to do about that. It’s just staying on her back, making sure I trust my D-line because they are behind me at all times.” Barnes broke into the Hopewell team as a forward during her freshman and sophomore seasons, but after an injury to a defender last season, coach John McGinley decided that she would make a good outside back thanks to her speed. It wasn’t the easiest adjustment, but Barnes was determined to make the best of it. “He was like ‘Charlotte, I trust you wherever you go, I know you got the speed, I know you can contain,'” Barnes said. “It was literally just gold from there. “It was hard at first, but I feel like we have a really good coaching staff, really good defense and knowing that I can trust them and they support me, it really helped out there.” Delainey Ross scored the game’s only goal in the 11th minute when she forced Lawrence into a mix up in the back with her pressure and poked the ball in at the near post. “We always talk about running through the ball,” Ross said. “I didn’t even see the ball. I just kept going until the ball was in the goal. Aggression and running through the ball is something we’re working on. Hopefully, me doing that shows the underclassmen that you can be aggressive and you can win.” Hopewell (6-2-1) has ripped off five straight wins. “We have a young team and our scrimmages were rough and we were getting a little down on ourselves,” said Ross, a junior who has emerged as one of the league’s best two-way midfielders. “After we realized what our groove is and we got our defense down, we are still working on our offense, and we’re improving. It shows in the games how we are winning them.” Lawrence (6-2) dropped its second straight CVC Colonial Division game. Both setbacks were by a single goal. Lawrence (6-2) 0 0 — 0 Hopewell Valley (6-2-1) 1 0 — 1 Goals: Ross (HV). Assists: Buchert (HV). Shots: 4 (L). 12 (HV). Saves: Kachurak 3 (L). LiVecchi 2 (HV). *** Allentown 1, Steinert 1 ALLENTOWN — Mia Garfolo gave the Spartans (2-5-2) a first-half lead on a free kick, but Amanda Hoglund equalized in the second half for the Redbirds (4-1-1). Notre Dame 3, Robbinsville 0 LAWRENCE TWP. — Anna Guid0 scored twice, Avery Whittle was also on target on the Irish (2-4-1) found their goal-scoring boots at last in a win over the Ravens (6-2-1), who got 10 saves from Gabby Sabol but had their unbeaten run halted at six. PDS 2, Princeton 0 PRINCETON — Makena Graham scored in each half, Shelby Ruf stopped six shots and the Panthers (4-2-1) won their fourth straight by blanking the Tigers (1-3-2) in a township tussle. Princeton is yet to score in three games against CVC Colonial Division opposition. WW-PN 2, Nottingham 0 PLAINSBORO — A pair of second-half goals by Ginny Choi gave the Knights (2-5) a victory that damaged the Northstars’ (6-3) hopes of a CVC Valley Division crown. Hightstown 1, Ewing 0 EWING — Sophie Cammarata scored the lone goal in the second half, Gabbi DeMarco and Rachel Shumsky combined for eight saves and the Rams (2-5) edged the Blue Devils (1-6). Emily Gamboa Ordini stopped five shots for Ewing.