Knights Can't Stay With Pressuring Millers

It was only a few weeks ago when West Essex girls soccer came storming into Millburn and stunned the Essex County defending champions.

Turn the clock ahead a few weeks and instead of an afternoon game in Millburn, it was a night game in North Caldwell.

Millburn made sure that West Essex would not sweep them in the regular season as the Millers would turn up the power in the second half and defeat the Knights, 5-1, on Tuesday night.

Millburn raised its record to 6-2, while West Essex dropped to 4-5 on the season.

For the Millers, senior forward Katie Beimfohr had a pair of goals, while twin sister, Emily Beimfohr, Lydia Vollavanh and Catherine Westlake had a goal each. For the Knights, the lone goal came off the foot of sophomore midfielder Brianna Panico.

The game was actually tied at one at half-time and West Essex had a chance to take a one-goal lead, but an Erica Perrotta breakaway shot went left of the goal.

Millers' Westlake would end up getting the eventual winner for Millburn in the second half, less than three minutes into the final half.

But it was the Beimfohr senior identical twins who took control after that in the second half with a pair of goals from forward Katie and a solo goal from Emily. Emily's score pretty much put the game out of reach with a two goal lead.    

With Katie Beimfohr taking the corner kick left of West Essex goalie Amanda Masterson, she smacked the ball into the goalie lip that was stocked with Millburn players and Emily just headed it in past Masterson with 22 minutes left in the game and made it 3-1.

"We work on that 40 minutes every day," said Emily Beimfohr, who added that it worked in the team's last game and they will keep trying it in the future. "We're looking to go three-for-three in the next game."

And Katie would add her two goals with 10 minutes and less than three minutes remaining in the game.

While Emily Beimfohr got the header, she said that Millburn head coach Andy Sones is asking for more offense from the center midfielder.

"The coach wants me to hit more from outside the 18," said Emily Beimfohr.

West Essex head coach Bryan McNaught said that it was the midfield play of the Millers, especially Emily Beimfohr, that made the difference in the game.

"Number nine was making it difficult in the middle," said McNaught. "We have to do a better job in the midfield."

In the second half, Millburn continued to put on the pressure and get corner kick while West Essex had a couple of chances, but they were few and far between. Despite the five goals, West Essex's Masterson played very well in goal.

Through almost the first 30 minutes of the first half, both sides had their chances, but Millburn controlled most of the half as West Essex and goal keeper Masterson would thwart their drives.

It appeared that some of the magic of the first game bled over to this game as West Essex sophomore midfielder Kelly Egan fed inside to fellow sophomore midfielder Panico who headed it past Millburn goal keeper Tori Graessle for a 1-0 lead.

"We've been pinned many times before," said Katie Beimfohr who said the team was still confident. "We don't want to let that happen again."

Emily agreed with her teammate. "We were confident because we thought we had dominated the first half," Emily added.

The aftermath of the goal is what McNaught said his team needs to work on. "We've got to get better keeping our focus," said McNaught.

It took nine minutes, but Millburn would get the equalizer in the first half as Vollavanh would pick up the loose ball 15-yards in front of the goal and would smack a shot high over Masterson to tie the game at one.

Despite the dominating by the Millers in the first half, Perrrotta almost bolstered the second half for the Knights. The freshman forward received a pass just over midfield and was able to get slightly ahead of the Millburn defense, but the shot from 15 yards out grazed the left goal post and stayed out.

For West Essex, it's a tough set of games this week. Not only did they play Millburn, the third seed in the upcoming Essex County Tournament, but also Montclair on Thursday. The Mounties are the top seed in the ECT.

The Knights are the seventh seed in the tournament and host 10th-seeded Caldwell on Sunday.

Not only is another neighborhood battle between the two schools, but the last game is very fresh in the mind of West Essex. Caldwell defeated West Essex, 2-1, last Friday night.

"It's a rivalry game," said McNaught. "If I have to do a half-time speech at that game, they should not be playing sports."