West Windsor-Plainsboro North's Prema Budhiraja, left, tries to control the ball as she's defended by Princeton High's Helena Murray, right, during a CVC girls soccer game on Thursday afternoon in Princeton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)West Windsor-Plainsboro North goalkeeper Jenna Manolakos, center, smiles at the end of a victory over Princeton High during a CVC girls soccer game on Thursday afternoon in Princeton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)West Windsor-Plainsboro North goalkeeper Jenna Manolakos clears the ball against Princeton High during a CVC girls soccer game on Thursday afternoon in Princeton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)West Windsor-Plainsboro North's Leary Connaughton, left, pokes the ball away from Princeton High's Nadia Mauger, right, during a CVC girls soccer game on Thursday afternoon in Princeton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)Princeton High's Malia Yates Burnett turns to control the ball against West Windsor-Plainsboro North during a CVC girls soccer game on Thursday afternoon in Princeton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)Princeton High's Marina Zaldarriaga, right, tries to move past West Windsor-Plainsboro North's Francesca Zodel, left, during a CVC girls soccer game on Thursday afternoon in Princeton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)West Windsor-Plainsboro North's Saanvi Kumar kicks the ball up the field against Princeton High during a CVC girls soccer game on Thursday afternoon in Princeton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)Princeton High's Mathilde Pouliot, left, and Leah O'Neill, right, knock West Windsor-Plainsboro North's Mia Sgro, center, off the ball during a CVC girls soccer game on Thursday afternoon in Princeton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)Princeton High's Marina Zaldarriaga, left, tries to move the ball around West Windsor-Plainsboro North's Julia Eckel, right, during a CVC girls soccer game on Thursday afternoon in Princeton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)Princeton High's Kacey Howes controls the ball against West Windsor-Plainsboro North during a CVC girls soccer game on Thursday afternoon in Princeton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)Princeton High's Taylor Hamerschlag controls the ball against West Windsor-Plainsboro North during a CVC girls soccer game on Thursday afternoon in Princeton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)West Windsor-Plainsboro North's Mia Sgro, right, and Princeton High's Taylor Hamerschlag, left, challenge for the ball during a CVC girls soccer game on Thursday afternoon in Princeton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)West Windsor-Plainsboro North goalkeeper Jenna Manolakos, left, slides to grab the ball before Princeton High's Manuela Dante Boarato, right, can kick it during a CVC girls soccer game on Thursday afternoon in Princeton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)West Windsor-Plainsboro North coach Loran Paragone, center, talks to her team against Princeton High during a CVC girls soccer game on Thursday afternoon in Princeton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)Princeton High coach Meghan Brennan talks to her team against West Windsor-Plainsboro North during a CVC girls soccer game on Thursday afternoon in Princeton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)Show Caption1 of 15West Windsor-Plainsboro North's Prema Budhiraja, left, tries to control the ball as she's defended by Princeton High's Helena Murray, right, during a CVC girls soccer game on Thursday afternoon in Princeton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)Expand   PRINCETON — If you had injected Loran Paragone with truth serum before her West Windsor-Plainsboro North girls soccer team kicked a ball without its leading scorer on Thursday afternoon she may have had a hard time convincing you a win was in the cards. Soccer, however, is a funny old game. Prema Budhiraja finished off a crisp counterattack in the 11th minute, Jenna Manolakos made 20 saves and the Knights withstood waves of pressure to beat Princeton, 1-0, for their third straight victory. “We have heart, and grit, and resilience,” said Paragone, who leapt in the air and pumped her fist at the final whistle. “These girls refused to lose and refused to give up, which was so awesome to watch them come together and compete today.” North (3-5) began the season with five straight losses, but have got their campaign back on track with three consecutive shutouts. This was the best of the three when you consider they were missing top goal getter Ginny Choi and needed to withstand constant pressure from the hosts who out-shot them 26-3. “We were here last year and it was like 6-0. It’s just so different,” Manolakos said. “We had a rough beginning of the season, our game against (rival West Windsor) South was not great. After this, I think we’re going up from here.” The Knights didn’t cross midfield often, but the first time they did they made it count. Mackeily Darcia swept a pass in behind the backline for the pacy Budhiraja, who did the rest with a fantastic left-footed finish. “I really just hoped to get my foot on that,” said Budhiraja, who has three goals this season, which is halfway to her total from a year ago. “I really just ran, and I hoped, and I kicked it and I prayed it went in. I’m really happy it went in. I’m really happy we’re on a winning streak right now. I think it kept our team going the rest of the game.” What it did was give the visitor’s something to hold on to. That is exactly what they did with Manolakos either coming up with a save or racing off her line to clear away potential danger. When the ball did bounce over her head late in the first half, defender Leary Connaughton was there to clear it off the line. The Knights also got hard-working defensive performances from Julia Eckel, Francesca Zodel, Julia Kolker, Saanvi Kumar and Anupama Casalena among others. “If we start strong, then we stay strong,” Budhiraja said. “Instead of playing catch up, we’re playing defense trying to keep that score up. It worked very well for us.” Princeton (1-4-2) was blanked for the fourth straight game and has only scored in two of its seven games. If you take out the seven goals against Trenton, the Tigers have just one all season and none against CVC opposition. “We haven’t got the piece in the final third yet and it’s super frustrating,” coach Meghan Brennan said. “I think sometimes that becomes a little bit of a mental block. I still think we can get there, but we have to get over that block.” It’s not for a lack of trying. Princeton had nearly 90% of the possession and took plenty of shots — Paragone said defending for the entire second half felt like “an eternity” — yet had nothing to show for it. Right about now, the Tigers just need to see the ball go in. “They have to get their confidence up,” Brennan said. “I know they can do it, they know they can do it. They can do it in practice, but it’s not coming together in games and I know that’s frustrating as a player and frustrating as a coach. Once they start getting it, it will come, but we’ve got to capitalize on those opportunities.” North took its chance. And with it a victory back to Plainsboro. “It was amazing,” Manolakos said. “Our defense was on it. They had everything out. They were getting it as far up as we could. Just staying in for all 80 minutes of that game.” WW-PN (3-5) 1 0 — 1 Princeton (1-4-2) 0 0 — 0 Goals: Budhiraja (WWN). Assists: Darcia (WWN). Shots: 3 (WWN). 26 (PHS). Saves: Manolakos 20 (WWN). J. Zaldarriaga 2 (PHS).