Try as they might, the Millburn Millers could not knock the Mounties off their thrones.
Off a goal from Montclair junior Meg Morris 40 seconds into overtime, the queens of Essex moved into their fourth straight county final with a 2-1 victory against fourth-seeded Millburn this past Sunday in Nutley.
Despite looking shaky at times against Millburn, especially during a sluggish second half, top-seeded Montclair will bid for its fourth straight ECT title against sixth-seeded Livingston on Sunday at West Essex in North Caldwell. Start time is noon.
This is the 26th girls ECT final, and the Mounties will be making their 14th appearance in the title game. The locals are 10-2-1 in those games, sharing the title with Millburn in 1999. In the past 12 years, Montclair has won eight titles outright and shared a ninth with Millburn.
"There is no girl on our sideline who has ever lost a county game," Montclair coach Chris Johnson said. "They are champions, and they’ve proved that year in and year out. But we still have one more match to get this year."
Livingston upset second-seeded Caldwell, 2-1, before the Mounties’ semi this past Sunday.
"We got to see about 60 minutes of Livingston’s game, and give them credit, they’re hungry," said Johnson. Montclair edged the Lancers in last year’s final, 1-0. "They’ve waited a whole year to get back to the final, so we’ll meet again."
Super sophomore striker Katie Schwindel leads Livingston in the front third. But it was also the work of midfielders Nicole Riccardi and Samantha Panzer against Caldwell that freed up Schwindel to work her magic, punching the Lancers’ ticket to the final.
"Kate and Samantha are both dangerous players, but we have to focus on what got us to the final … just playing our game," Morris said.
Montclair’s game centers on allowing Morris and senior Morgan Stith, owner of three ECT crowns, to create havoc for opposing defenses. Also the fastest Mounties, Morris and Stith frequently retreat to the back third to shore up MHS’ defense with senior Ingrid Kaplan.
Morris was in havoc mode Sunday when she gathered a throw-in during a scoreless match and dribbled five yards before unleashing a laser that found its way into the lower-left portion of the goal in the 35th minute.
The Millers controlled play for most of the second half, sending one header off the crossbar in the 52nd minute before nearly sneaking another offering past Montclair senior goalie Caitlin Pacheco 10 minutes later.
Off a reset, Millburn evened things up from 30 yards out in the 64th minute. The arching shot landed short of the goal, but took a high bounce over Pacheco’s outstretched arms before she could corral it.
Despite several strong runs from Mountie freshman Maya Pitts during the match’s final 16 minutes, Montclair headed into overtime.
But not before a few words from its coach.
"I told them it was a matter of them realizing relaxing, but also that it was time to get their act together," Johnson said. "I also made them aware of the fact that the longer they allowed Millburn to hang around, the tougher it would be to put them away."
Morris took care of that when she ran onto a free ball and headed it into the center of the goal.
"Malika [Miller] did a good job of working for the ball and it freed things up for Meg," Johnson told The Times. "Meg saw the fresh meat and went piranha on it."
Montclair (9-4) won its third straight match this past Tuesday, edging Holy Angels, 2-1, in an NNJIL regular-season match in Demarest. Stith and Miller tallied and Pacheco stopped 17 shots.
MHS hosts Paramus today at 4 p.m. on Fortunato Field and goes on the road against Bloomfield tomorrow at 4 p.m.
