PRINCETON JCT. — Try not to hang your heads. That sounds like a pretty basic credo, yet it is one that would seem important for the West Windsor-Plainsboro High South varsity boys’ soccer team. Head coach Matt Coburn’s Pirates have been in their share of games this season despite only having scored five times in eight games. In five of those contests, they have been shut out. Going against a much improved Montgomery High squad Saturday, things started out well for WW-P South, but a 1:10 stretch in the final five minutes of the first half came back to haunt the Pirates on the way to a 4-1 setback. “In practice, we’ve got to put in more work,” senior forward Radesh Sankaran said. “We have to learn to make simple passes and stop fouling. Then we have to make sure that we play the same way in the game.” There is a level of frustration which comes with giving up their most goals in a game this year. It comes from facing a team like the Cougars that is averaging more than three goals per game and has seen 11 different players score. “This is a big turnaround for us,” said Montgomery head coach Rickey Steeb, whose 8-3 team only won four times in 2023. “The experience they gained last year has helped us.” That season of learning and season of growth has paid as big a part as a move into the Skyland Conference’s Raritan Division. The Cougars displayed confidence in their attack, even when WW-P South (2-5-1) was playing well. The home team came close to taking the lead 3:30 into the game when Pirate senior forward Ethan Chang hit the crossbar with a shot. The visitors came back to take the lead six minutes later when senior forward Colson Orvos stole a ball in the backfield and deposited it in the net for his fifth goal. Still the Pirates held their heads up and rallied to tie the game with 8:29 left in the first half when Sankaran received a pass from senior midfielder Adrian Chang and ripped a tough angled shot into the goal. “I saw the ball come across my body, and said to myself, ‘Why not?’,” Sankaran said of his impressive first goal this season. “We weren’t getting a lot of chances, so I had to try something.” As much of a morale booster as that would have seemed to be, WW-P South found itself back on its heels once again. First, Montgomery’s senior midfielder Andrew Park kicked a shot off the post. Then, less than four minutes after Sankaran’s equalizer, the Cougars got a free kick just outside the box that junior midfielder Luke Oliu blasted into the net for a 2-1 lead with 4:42 left in the half. Before the Pirates could adjust, Montgomery junior back Christian Truppi led senior striker Nik Globocnik for his fifth goal of the year with 3:32 left for a 3-1 halftime edge. “For some reason, after goals, we drop in confidence,” Sankaran said. “We’re going to change how we practice and change how we work. South will be back!” Coburn’s charges came out with more spirit in the second half and played more evenly. Sankaran had a free kick punched away by Cougars junior goalkeeper Alex Acot 9:20 after intermission, then senior forward Alec Siegel ripped a shot off the corner of the crossbar with eight minutes to go. But, even with senior keeper Adham Mohammed making nine saves to help keep Montgomery from running away with the game, the home team could not get another goal, instead seeing the Cougars score one more on a counterattack with 3:11 to go when senior back Jason Spicer led freshman attacker Dylan Heines for the final tally. Montgomery (8-3)           3   1    —    4 WW-PSouth(2-5-1)         1   0    —    1 Goals: Orvos, Oliu, Globocnik, Heines (M), Sankaran (WWS); Assists: Truppi, JSpicer (M), AChang (WWS). Shots: 15 (M), 8 (WWS); Saves: Acot 5 (M), Mohammed 9 (WWS).