ROBBINSVILLE — Adriana Salzano decided she was going to mix things up by wearing a blue cleat on her right foot and a white one on the left.
No, they didn’t come like that, but maybe the Princeton Day School girls soccer team’s junior midfielder will stick with that look after she scored twice to help her side to a crucial victory over Robbinsville earlier this week.
“I was like, ‘lets try something new,'” Salzano said. “You know what, I’m going to stick with it.”
More importantly, the Panthers (6-3) got their biggest win of the season by holding off the Ravens — and the abjectly terrible conditions — to put them in a good position for a top-eight place and spot in the Mercer County Tournament.
“Coach said we had to come in here ready to play and get this win,” Salzano said. “From the start, our mentality was fast pace and we got to win this game, and from there it kind of played out.”
Salzano, a Hamilton native, burst onto the scene as a freshman when she scored nine goals and had six assists during the Covid-shortened 2020 campaign and then backed that up with 13 goals last season.
After tallying twice on Monday — both goals were of the scrappy variety that began with a corner kick — she has a team-best five goals and four assists.
“I try and take lead on the field,” Salzano said. “That’s something me and coach talked about at the beginning of the year, and that’s always guiding the players, especially the young ones. That’s something I look to take on next year as well.”
Salzano has played multiple positions in her two-and-a-half seasons at PDS — first under Pat Trombetta and now Chris Pettit — and Pettit has deployed her recently as a central midfielder.
“We’ve rotated her through two or three different positions and we’re still trying to fit all of the pieces of the jigsaw together,” said Pettit, who is in his second season. “She’s that kind of player where you just put her wherever and it works.”
Salzano said that it’s not a big adjustment for her to play multiple positions, even throughout the course of a game. She’s primarily a six or a ten at the club level, which suits her strengths since she’s tidy on the ball and can play in tight spaces.
“You’ve probably seen me play three different positions this year,” Salzano said with a laugh. “Whether I’m a six or a 10, my main job is to settle things down, keep the ball, so that was my mindset coming into this year.”
Next up for PDS is a Prep B first-round game against Moorestown-Bears on Thursday, followed by a trip to George on Saturday and another massive contest against Hun next Tuesday, which is the final day of results that count toward MCT seeding.
