PRINCETON JCT. — It’s been 14 long years since the West Windsor-Plainsboro South girls soccer team was considered a player on the Mercer County soccer scene. But after all that time adrift at sea, the Pirates are not only back, they are on the brink of a CVC Valley Division title. All South has to do to wrap up the Valley crown is avoid slip ups in its final two division matches against Trenton on Oct. 8 and Ewing on Oct. 15. At 5-1-2 overall, the Pirates are also in line to finish over .500 for the first time since Christine Miller guided them to a 13-2-2 record in 2010. “It feels really good,” said junior midfielder Maya Montemayor after she scored a hat trick in the 5-1 victory over Nottingham on Tuesday. “We’ve worked hard to get here. I feel like we deserve it.” Montemayor was part of a team that won a combined five games the last two seasons, but she could tell right away that something was different about this group. Different, and better. The freshmen trio of Riley Duguay, Kate Grecsek and Anna Hefele brought an injection of talent alongside returning players like Montemayor, Antonella DeGregorio, Keziah Thankachan and the solid center back pairing of Deanna Hu and Meadow Boateng. “The three freshmen are really good,” Montemayor said. “They created opportunities for us to go forward and be better as a team.” Duguay debuted with a hat trick in the season opener and has eight goals and four assists in eight games. Grecsek and Hefele have solidified the midfield. “We’ve prepared over the summer to be part of the team and all of them are very welcoming and made us feel part of the team,” Duguay said. “There were already a lot of great players on the team and we kind of came together this year to make the team even better.” Third-year coach Elisa Mastroianni said she’s grown a lot from those first two tough seasons. “I’ve been learning a lot from the other coaches in the conference, and the state and other coaches at my school,” Mastroianni said. “I’m really happy that all the stuff I’ve been working on has been able to translate to the girls, and I’m happy for them that they’ve been able to find success with what we did in practice on the field.” Step one: working together as a unit in the way players move around the field. “My whole goal was being more attacking minded because last year we weren’t able to find the back of the net that often,” Mastroianni said. “Just starting with the defense and making sure that is locked down, and then we have really good players who can finish. By giving them the base of our defense, they can really shine and be free.” In Valley Division games, the Pirates have outscored their four foes by a combined 18-3 margin. Yet they’ve also held their own in three matches against the Colonial Division where they are 0-1-2. Their lone loss was a 2-1 setback against Lawrence, while they held Steinert to a 0-0 draw and rallied from a two-goal deficit twice to draw Robbinsville, 3-3. South still has two more big chances to prove itself — vs. Notre Dame and at Allentown — before the CVC Tournament begins. “In the past, we’ve gone up against (those teams) and been like ‘we can’t compete so why even bother go,'” Mastroianni said. That’s not the case this season. “The vibes are really happy and good,” Duguay said. “We don’t ever have bad vibes. Even if we are down like in the Robbinsville game when we were down two, we had good vibes and we came back on them.” “We trust each other,” Montemayor added. “We’re always there for each other. Even if we are down, we’re able to pick each other up.” Lawrence’s Caelyn LaFlamme, right, and West Windsor-Plainsboro South’s Riley Duguay, left, challenge for the ball during a CVC girls soccer game on Thursday afternoon in Princeton Junction. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) *** In the Colonial Division, Hopewell Valley controls its own destiny following Tuesday night’s 1-0 victory over Princeton Day, but four other teams are still in contention for the title with two division matches remaining. The Bulldogs (9-2-1, 4-0-1) have won eight straight games — nine in a row unbeaten — and are on nine points. They have a two-point lead over the three-way tie for second between Allentown (6-2-1, 3-1-1), Notre Dame (5-4-1, 3-1-1) and Robbinsville (7-3-2, 3-1-1) — all of which are on seven points. Princeton Day (5-3-1, 3-2) is three points back on six. The math is simple for John McGinley’s side: Get three points from its final two division games (at Allentown on Oct. 8; at Robbinsville on Oct. 15) and the outright Colonial crown is headed to Hopewell Twp. Should Hopewell lose one or both of those games, things get a bit more complicated (remember two points for a win and one for a draw). Here’s what the other teams have left (games to be played on Oct. 8 and 15): Allentown (vs. Hopewell; vs. PDS); Notre Dame (at PDS; at Steinert); Robbinsville (vs. Lawrence; vs. Hopewell Valley); PDS (vs. Notre Dame; at Allentown). *** The CVC Tournament begins with first-round games to be played by Saturday, Oct. 19. All 15 schools are in the bracket — there are no opt outs as there were for the Mercer County Tournament — with the top seed receiving a bye directly to the quarterfinals. The higher seed hosts in the first round and quarterfinals (Monday, Oct. 21) before shifting to Ackerson Field for the semifinals on Wednesday, Oct. 23 and the final on Saturday, Oct. 26. Those CVC Tournament games will count toward PowerPoints for the state tournament since the cutoff is noon on Monday, Oct. 27. The state tournament sections will be seeded on Oct. 30, with first-round matches scheduled to be completed by Nov. 4. Seven of the CVC’s 15 teams are in Central Group III, but it’s who is not in that section that caught the eye. Defending sectional champ Middletown South moved to North 1, Group III, while Allentown bumped down to Central Group II. The result is a wide-open section that will likely run through Hopewell Valley since the Bulldogs (16.237) have a big PowerPoint lead over Jackson Memorial (11.777 despite a 3-5-1 record) and Lawrence (10.174). Only four of the 19 teams in that section — Hopewell, Lawrence, Burlington Twp. and Nottingham — are even over .500 at this point in the season. Central Group II looks the much tougher section with 13 of the 19 teams over .500. That includes both Allentown (5th with 15.344 PP) and Robbinsville (10th with 11.734). Also of note: West Windsor South is 8th in Central Group IV, Notre Dame is 7th in Non-Public A South and PDS — state champ in Non-Public A last season — is fourth in a Non-Public B South section that features Rutgers Prep. Notre Dame’s Ashton Robbins, left, and Hopewell Valley’s Meg Kurian, right, challenge for the ball during a CVC Colonial Division girls soccer game on Thursday afternoon at Ackerson Field in Hopewell Twp. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) *** Pennington’s rematch of last season’s Prep Tournament championship against Rutgers Prep is off. The game was canceled due to a multitude of scheduling factors. Whether the two state powers meet this season is yet to be determined. Unlike last year when all the prep teams were seeded into one bracket, they are back to using Prep A and B and schools need to declare by the end of the week which one they are entering. The Red Hawks have feasted on MAPL opponents during their five-game winning streak, outscoring them, 27-1, on their way to a second straight league title. They can complete a perfect MAPL season by beating Lawrenceville on Oct. 21. The immediate business at hand is Saturday’s Homecoming game against 7-1 McDonogh School of Maryland. Kick off is scheduled for 5 p.m.