PRINCETON — As far as the Steinert High varsity boys’ soccer players and their coaches were concerned, Tuesday was not so much about stopping an impending losing streak as it was about starting a new winning one. That did not figure to be easy since their opponent was Princeton High, but after a hard-fought, non-league loss (their first of the season) at Cherokee Saturday, the Spartans had to adjust their mindset. Head coach Anthony Tessein’s boys scored twice in the first 10 minutes against the Tigers, while Steinert kept its defense stingy on the way to a 2-0 victory in Colonial Valley Conference Colonial Division play. In doing so, the Spartans also earned Tessein his 100th coaching victory with the boys after having notched some 50 more as a girls’ soccer head coach. “We scored two early, and that was the key,” said Tessein, who is in his ninth year with the boys. “We caught them on their heels. They don’t give up many goals, but they also don’t score many goals.” While it took head coach Ryan Walsh’s defending Group IV state champions a little while to get going, Princeton (7-2-3) came at Steinert non-stop in the final 58 minutes to make things rather interesting. But Spartans senior goalkeeper Dennis Chaykovskyy had quite the day, not only making 11 saves to keep the home team at bay, but also assisting on the first goal with a long punt that was tracked down by his teammate Sam Narkun. Narkun turned that long lead into his fourth goal of the season with a shot past Tigers senior goalkeeper Nicolas Holmelund 7:02 into the contest. “That was a pretty good punt from Dennis,” said Narkun, who eluded his defender to track down the ball. “That was a good one to get us started.” Before the 1-0 lead had much time to sink in, Steinert sophomore midfielder/forward Christopher Vega-Ramirez put the home team in a bigger hole exactly 2:25 after Narkun’s opener. This time, from the opposite side of the field, Vega-Ramirez curled a shot around Holmelund toward the net. Even though it looked as though the ball had been cleared from the line at the last second by a defender, the shot was ruled to have crossed the plane by the referee. “In the first 10 minutes, we were kind of out of it,” Princeton senior fullback Connor Hewitt said. “After that, we had chance after chance, but we just couldn’t put one in.” Momentum seemed to be shifting when the Tigers had a goal nullified by a foul with 21:30 left in the first half. When Archie Smith ripped a shot off the crossbar with 17:15 left in the half, it looked like Princeton was going to get one. Instead, Chaykovskyy stayed steady, making a fine foot save on a 1-on-1 chance by Azariah Breitman 14:55 before intermission. The second half was more of the same as Aaron Thyrum got the home fans excited right off the bat with a crossing shot which skipped inches wide of the far post. Yet, Chaykovskyy and backline defenders Jake Reilly, Ryan Checkowski and Elliot Morris refused to crack against the charging Tigers, who lost senior Chris Penston to a serious foot injury with 22:41 left as an ambulance had to be called, stopping play for 20 minutes. “Now we have another tough game with Hun Thursday,” Narkun said. “After Saturday’s loss, we want to turn this around into a winning streak.” The Raiders (8-1-2) are sure to give the Spartans (9-1-3) another tough challenge. At least Steinert is heading in with the proper mindset. Steinert (9-1-3)           2   0    —    2 Princeton(7-2-3)         0   0    —    0 Goals: Narkun, Vega-Ramirez (S); Assist: Chaykovskyy (S). Shots: 7 (S), 12 (P); Saves: Chaykovskyy 11 (S), Holmelund 5 (P).