WEST WINDSOR -- A 17-year-old township girl died yesterday when her car struck a tree off Princeton-Hightstown Road (Route 571), police said.

Police identified the girl as Stephanie Au-Yeung, a student in township schools. They said she was driving west on Route 571 at 2:50 p.m. when her car went off the road in the area of the bridge over the Amtrak rail line and hit a tree.

Au-Yeung was trapped in the car by the collision, police said. After she was extricated, she was taken to the trauma center at Capital Health System at Fuld hospital, where she was pronounced dead, Patrol Officer Marylouise Dranchak said. Police escorted Au-Yeung's family to the hospital.

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WEST WINDSOR -- Stephanie Au-Yeung had quietly racked an impressive all-American =3000) { return true; } else { self.ql_clickTimeout = setTimeout('ql_goSeach()', ((2500+Math.floor(Math.random()*1000-time)))); return false; } } return true;" onmouseout="window.status='Search for: high school'; self.ql_isOverTip = false; if(self.ql_timeout) clearTimeout(self.ql_timeout); setTimeout('ql_closeiframe()', 1500);" href="http://www.qklinkserver.com/lm/rtl4.asp?si=20021&k=high%20school">high school career: honors courses and friends, topped off by a sweet demeanor.

"The thing that comes to mind the most was that she was the nicest person," West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North Principal Michael Zapicchi said yesterday, mourning the senior student who died Sunday afternoon in a car crash.

Tragically, Zapicchi said, Au-Yeung was not the type of person one might read about in the newspaper because she quietly went about her studies. But people will read about her now, since she died so publicly.

"The kids will miss her so much," Zapicchi said. "She had a lot of friends in the building. She had a real position of respect in the student body because of the kind of person she was."

The teen had a strict regimen of academic classes, Zapicchi said. "She was a very good student," he said.

Au-Yeung's distraught father, Wai Au-Yeung, declined to comment yesterday when reached at his township home. His daughter's death was just too painful, he said.

Au-Yeung's car, heading west, slid off a rainy Princeton-Hightstown Road Sunday afternoon and struck a tree on the driver's side, police said.

She was stuck in the wreckage following the 2:50 p.m. crash and had to be cut free by rescue personnel.

Tarr said the teen's car suffered massive damage.

The road where she crashed is a one-third mile stretch that is designated as state highway Route 64 to take Route 571 traffic over the Amtrak rail lines.