Rachel Jimenez sent a chip over the goalie for the gamewinner with seven seconds left in the first overtime, ending a scoreless deadlock and sending Mendham to a 1-0 win over Cranford in a state tournament game on Monday, Nov. 12.
Meg Byrne flicked a header over the defense to set up the decisive goal for the Minutemen (11-6-2).
Paige Terwilligermade 14 saves for Mendham.
New Providence 1, Whippany Park 0
Erin Fay's goal in overtime boosted New Providence over Whippany Park 1-0 in a North Jersey Section 2, Group I game on Saturday, Nov. 10.
Fay was assisted by Ashley Evangelos.
Whippany Park goalie Alex Cozzarelli had nine saves. The Wildcats are 11-7-1.
Pequannock 2, Mountain Lakes 0
The Golden Panthers, behind goals by Kate DeLellis and Kendall Machak, won their first state tournament game in school history on Saturday, Nov. 10.
DeLellis, assisted by Machak, scored the first goal in the Section 1, Group II game. Machak, a junior, netted her 18th goal assisted by Jennifer Murphy.
Junior goalie Olivia Schreiber registered seven saves.
Whippany Park 2, Mount St. Dominic 0
Gina Dello Russo and Courtney Simon had a goal apiece for Whippany Park in a victory over Mount St. Dominic on Friday, Oct. 26.
Ashley Granato, Michaela Cox and Christine Jones provided the assists.
Alexa Cozzarelli recorded 10 saves for her sixth shutout of the season for the Wildcats (11-6).
Mendham 2, Mountain Lakes 0
First-half goals by Becky Gohsler and Emily Saliterman propelled Mendham to victory over Mountain Lakes on Thursday, Oct. 25.
Gohsler scored unassisted 25 minutes into the opening half. Saliterman converted eight minutes later assisted by Carlye Maita.
Paige Terwilliger finished with six saves for Mendham (9-6-2).
Zoe Rankin made eight saves for the Lakers (8-10-1).
Whippany Park 2, Madison 1
Dina Sheira scored a pair of second-half goals to power Whippany Park to victory over Madison on Tuesday, Oct. 23.
Sheira's goals were in the 59th and 70th minute and were assisted by Gina Dello Russo, Ashley Granato and Christina Boyadjis.
Alexa Cozzarelli made three saves for Whippany Park (10-6). Megan Calcaterra stopped seven shots for the Dodgers (2-9).
Pequannock 1, Morris Catholic 0
Kendall Machak registered a goal in the first half for the Golden Panthers and it held up, enabling them to edge the Crusaders on Tuesday, Oct. 23.
Caroline Wood assisted on the gamewinner.
Olivia Schreiber, Pequannock's goalie, finished with nine saves. Morris Catholic is 14-2-2. Pequannock improved to 11-5-1.
Morristown-Beard 3, Morris Catholic 1
Morristown-Beard's girls soccer players haven't gotten that much attention from their school despite their recent success. However, now that they are making history, they might be getting some support really soon.
Kathryn Bregna scored twice and Kristy Cotter connected on a long-distance goal to help the Crimson beat Morris Catholic 3-1 on Sunday, Oct. 14 and advance to the semifinal round of the tournament for the first time in the history of the school's soccer program.
Tara Sobierajski registered a first-half goal for the second-seeded and previously unbeaten Crusaders (11-1-2).
"This is pretty amazing," Bregna said. "This is the first time in school history for the girls varsity program. I'm really proud of our girls and how we played today. It's just a great team thing."
"We're just a really close-knit group of girls," defender Erica Atkinson said. "Not all of us knew each other at the beginning. We all got really close in preseason. You can tell on the field. Some teams play together in spurts but we look like a team that has played together for a lot of years."
Morristown-Beard was heavily outshot by Morris Catholic but the Crimson took full advantage of their limited opportunities and led 2-1 at the half.
"Our coaches and our players believe that we can beat any team in the county," Morristown-Beard coach Dennis Jackson said. "Today was proof."
Cotter's stunning blast from midfield in the eighth minute of play got Morristown-Beard off to a rousing start. The West Morris transfer and midfield defender has been a terrific catalyst for the Crimson on offense and defense.
"Kristy has so much power when she takes a kick,'' defender Erica Atkinson said. "She knows that she can hit it from back there. She hit a corner. It put us in a really good mood.''
Brogna helped the offense with goals in the 38th minute, one a flick off a Cotter free kick and 55th minute off a scramble from a Dani Kabut corner kick.
"She is a good physical presence inside the 18,'' Jackson said. "She only scored one goal prior to today (against Montclair Kimberley). Today, she just made up for it. We expected her to score between five and 10 goals this year. She's up to three and I think she has a chance of scoring a few more.''
Although the defense let up a Sobierajski goal in the 18th minute, the Crimson did a credible job of swamping the Crusaders talented midfielder without man marking. They altered their formations depending upon the situation and rarely left the Morris Catholic standout unattended.
"We had to change our game plan a little bit," defender Erica Atkinson said. "Basically, we just knew about her coming in. We were always looking for her all the time because we had to shut her down."
Despite road wins against Mendham and Morris Catholic, the Crimson athletes say they don't feel like Cinderellas or underdogs. The Morristown-Beard players don't think they will become pumpkins either. They want to stay to the end of the dance and turn off the lights on the way out.
"We want to take it as far as we can," Bregna said. "We want to do something for the school that has never been done before. There's no way that we are content with this."
Pequannock 3, West Morris 2
The Wolfpack outshot the Golden Panthers by a 27-5 tally but Pequannock goalkeeper Olivia Schreiber stopped 13 shots and her teammates were accurate with their kicks in Pequannock's stunning MCT victory on Sunday, Oct. 14.
It is the first time Pequannock has advanced to the semifinal round in the history of the school's soccer program. The Golden Panthers face Villa Walsh in the next round.
Kate DeLellis had two goals and one assist, Jen Murphy scored a goal and Kendall Machak contributed an assist for the Golden Panthers (9-3-1). Emily Thomas scored twice and Kendall Ballotti and Sydney Sapir each registered assists for the Wolfpack (10-2-1).
Villa Walsh 1, Roxbury 0
Sophomore forward Lauren Pacewicz connected off a pass from Megan Lawlor in the second half on Sunday, Oct. 14 to lift the Vikings into the MCT semifinals.
Sophomore goalkeeper Colleen Brennan registered a shutout on six saves for Villa Walsh (8-2-3).
Mel Lopez stopped five shots for fifth-seeded Roxbury (7-3-2).
Whippany Park 3, Morristown-Beard 2
Dina Sheira netted a pair of goals, including the gamewinner in the 67th minute, for Whippany Park when it defeated Morristown-Beard on Thursday, Oct. 11.
Ashley Granato gave Whippany a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute and Gina Dello Russo assisted on all three goals.
Casey Fleno and Kristy Cotter scored for the Crimson (7-4-2) and Gianna Bustamante had an assist. The Wildcats improved their record to 9-4.
Jefferson 5, Hopatcong 0
Melissa Jurkiewicz netted two goals and Kaithlyn Katzenberger, Amanda Delfino and Alexis Radulic chipped in with a goal apiece to send Jefferson to a 5-0 victory over Hopatcong on Wednesday, Oct. 10.
Katzenberger, Delfino, Katie Hatler and Nina DePalma had assists for the Falcons (5-5-1).
Catelyn Pisano had a busy day in goal for the Chiefs, making 18 saves.
Whippany Park 2, Parsippany 1
Megan Lee's corner kick in the 63rd minute provided the decisive goal for Whippany Park when it edged Parsippany 2-1 on Tuesday, Oct. 9.
Kate Cantrell scored in the ninth minute to stake the Wildcats (8-4) to a 1-0 lead.
Parsippany's goal was by Brittany Birth.
Pequannock 4, Mount St. Dominic 2
Goals by Casey Kapotes, Kendall Machak, Katie DeLellis and Carly Klimek led the Golden Panthers past Parsippany on Tuesday, Oct. 9.
Kapotes, Dana Scillieri and Machak had assists. Goalie Olivia Schreiber notched the shutout with eight saves.
Pequannock 2, Morris Knolls 1
Goals by Kendall Machak and Kate DeLellis highlighted Pequannock's victory over Morris Knolls on Monday, Oct. 8.
Machak scored her 13th goal this season on a free kick in the first half.
DeLellis converted in the second half assisted by Machak.
Olivia Schreiber turned in a seven-save effort in goal.