Millburn Soccer Club Round-Up: Opening the Season with Wins

After pre-season tournaments, the Millburn Soccer Club's teams got to work last weekend. Here's a round-up of action:

The Millburn Mystics U8 girls began the travel season well by defeating the Watchung Hills Strikers on Sunday with a 4-0 victory.  Jordyn Lipkin scored two goals, one of which was assisted by Jessie Rievman.  Carly Bernstein scored another goal, also assisted by Jessie Rievman.  Then Lauren Liu scored the last goal bringing the team to their 4-0 final score. Allyson Lipkin played right forward extraordinarily well and had several shots on goal. Samantha Rothman played tough in defense and aggressive in midfield helping the team succeed.

Three goals from Romeo Ruiz propelled the Meteors to a 3-1 win over the North Hunterdon Strikers. Connor Kirkwood, Bobby Dries and Will Elder assisted on the goals, and Enric Adillon and Sean Klein excelled in goal. Ollie Cohen, Ethan Merdinger and Ryan Sullivan were solid on defense.

The Millburn Missiles defeated the Jamesburg Vipers 2-1 on Sunday, September 19, 2010 in Monroe Township, NJ.  The Missiles trailed 1-0 at halftime, before getting third period goals from Koby Cohen and Ben Lipkin with Aidan Grigorian assisting on both goals.  Zack Parker and Brandon Hersh starred in goal for the Missiles.

 The Magic won its opening season game Sunday in the JAGS league with a 2-1 victory over the Manhattan Crew. Chloe Zegas scored the first goal of the season with a hard strike that the goalkeeper couldn't reach. Carsyn Mclaughlin scored on a penalty kick in the second half. Amber Jacobsen played an outstanding game and Kaylee Donnelly made great saves in goal.

The Millburn Cobras beat the Piscataway Pythons 3-0 Sunday. Brandon Dinowitz, Charlie Levison and Alex Flaum tallied scores for the Cobras. Zach Ravitz and Andrew Clark combined in goal for the shutout. Levison and Dinowitz along with Andrew Siracuse assisted on the Cobra goals.

Also on Sunday, the Millburn Raiders defeated the SSC Fire 6-2 to open up the MAPS season. Josh Goldstern netted four goals and Devin Siracuse contributed two goals. Alex Tomko and Jordan Brisgel turned in solid net minding for the Raiders.  Ethan Podell, Matt Moriarity and Jordan Beacham turned in strong defensive play for the Raiders. 

Amy Nadel, Emma Katz and Ila Kaul each scored a goal in  the Millburn Cyclones' 3-2 win over the Franklin Township Shooting Stars. Hannah Barr, Sophie Wolf and Thaïs Barraque tallied assists.  Ellen Stoler and Becca Zimmerman played stellar defense in support of keeper Mary Pagano.

The Tormadoes opened their season on Sunday with a creditable 1-1 tie against the Chatham United Cougars. With 10 minutes remaining, Daniella Petrocelli beat the Cougars' keeper at close quarters to tie the game following good approach work from Darice Lee. Rachel Hubertus made several fine saves in goal to keep the Tornadoes in contention while the ever-present Deirdre Cunningham anchored a strong Tornadoes' defense.

The Millburn Inferno posted a 1-1 draw in their season opener on Sunday against the Bridgewater Metros.  Harrison Fleisig scored for the Inferno on a pass from teammate Miles Ostroff.  Ethan Sollender, Will Cerulli and Jacob Topping Zimmerman played solid defense while goalkeeper Ethan Ostroff made several key saves.

The Millburn Titans defeated Pasco on Sunday 7-1. Bryce Millington scored for the Titans in the first minute, and the Titans scored four more goals in the first half. Ben Bograd scored a beauty with Matthew Jordan, Josiah Crawford (2) and Ben Kessler (2) also contributing goals. Great assists came from Ben Pampush and Kyle Speckhart.

The Millburn Hornets started the season off with a 3-1 loss against the Livingston Lady Lions. Hannah Klein scored with an awesome goal with an assist from Ava Belcuore. The Hornets put up a good fight against the Lions. Katherine Kuiken starred in goal with some great saves, while Brooke  Hoffman and Jessica Stern starred on defense and midfield.

Elie Forster notched a hat trick as the Piranhas lost a tough battle on Sunday to the Flemington Firecrackers 7-3. In a game closer than the score suggested, Cara Flyer, Emma Grossman and Maddie Driscoll also played well.

The Millburn U-9 Rockets fell short in their comeback against the Monroe Mayhem, losing 4-3. Monroe took the early lead before Alex Migoya evened the score on a penalty kick. After falling behind 3-1, second half goals by Migoya on a Tommy Wachtel assist and Alex Dorfschneider tied the game before Monroe scored the winning goal in the closing two minutes of play.    

The Millburn Flash came from behind to tie the Birdgewater Galaxy 1-1 in the league season opener at home. Anna Nesser scored the equalizer with a left-footed shot off a feed from left fullback Kerri Driscoll.  Marie Claire Cicenia and Emily Mester made seven saves in goal for the Flash and Emma Hou played strong defense at sweeper. Lauren Oxley provided terrific mid field play by keeping the offensive pressure on the Galaxy throughout the game.

The Millburn Dynamite dropped a 3-1 decision to the Livingston Lady Launchers on Sunday. Caitlyn Dwyer scored the first goal of the season for the Dynamite while Peyton Schwartz and Anna Loprete provided constant offensive pressure. Nina Radtke and Rachel Fishkind excelled in goal during a well-fought match.

The Millburn U9 Barracudas had a dominating performance against the Parsippany SC Fire on Sunday with a convincing 5-2 victory. Maggie Speckhart had two goals in the first half, assisted by Yasmin Hallinan and Julia Pampush. Aubrey Wright scored on an amazing direct kick 30 feet out while Devon Thomas and Leah Mangold both scored goals to lead the team to victory. Taylor Nemet and Kyra Goldman played strong in goal, and Emma Capanna and Caleigh Trachtman played solid through out the entire game.

The U10 Millburn Heat battled the Westfield Terps to a 3-1 victory under the lights.  Zane Solender led off the scoring with a goal in the first quarter.  Thomas Barraque put the ball in the net on an assist from Christian Clark. After Westfield scored to pull within one, Ramsey Little scored late in the game on a breakaway to increase the lead and secure the victory. Connor Klein played an outstanding game to lead the Heat.

The Millburn Blaze played the Hopewell  Valley Comets and came away with a 3-2 win.  David Sternlieb scored the first goal in the first 15 seconds of the second half with an assist  from Nick Visceglia breaking a 0-0 tie. Ethan Lenner scored the second goal for the Blaze with a long assist from Tyler Bernard. The third goal was scored by Tyler Barishaw with an assist from Thomas Silberberg.  Spencer Solit and Bennett Garcia excelled for the defense.

The Pythons were undefeated in their doubleheader on Sunday, beating the Jersey United Spartans, 5-1, and tying the South Jersey Barons, 1-1.  Eric Silverstein started the Pythons run against the Spartans scoring off an assist from Christiano Hocken, with a perfect cross-field pass from Drew Cohn.  Perry Schwartz's penalty kick added a second goal while Hocken scored a third goal. Justin Wang booted in a fourth goal for the Pythons and Nathaniel Charendoff tallied the final goal with the assist going to Eric Silverstein, off a pass from Richie Schiekofer. Gabriel Nadell and Logan Schneider were strong on defense in the Pythons' shutout of the Spartans.

Keeper Justin Ehly held the South Jersey Barons to one goal with a number of outstanding saves.  Charendorff scored the lone goal for the Pythons while Spencer Schneider, Will Anton, Connor Lally and Matthew Brenner kept up the offensive pressure with precision passing and a barrage of shots on goal.

The Millburn Braves (U11) lost to the North Brunswick Lions 1-0 in North Brunswick.  The true standouts of the game were goalies Atah Abdi and Henry Cohen.  They were helped on defense by Quentin Abramo and Nikolay Pomytkin.  

The Millburn Strikers fell to the Scotch Plains Fanwood Blue Lightening 3- 1. David Toradze scored Millburn's lone goal on a direct free kick. Later in the day, the Millburn Strikers shutout the Lawrence Panthers, 4 - 0. George Garber scored the first goal, followed by Joey Aronskind's hat trick. Jake Hubertus tallied an assist on Aronskind's first goal. Keeper Matt Abrams starred for the Strikers. Stellar play from forward Cole Keller and defender Andrew Tham helped bolster Millburn's win.

The Millburn Monarchs played a hard fought 1-1 draw against the Monroe Township Purple Storm.  The Monarch's goal was scored by Niamh Freeman, assisted by Nikhita Mahendru.  Bianca Marino and Barri Boyarsky starred in goal, and Isabelle Orlan dominated at midfield for the Monarchs.

The Pennington United defeated the Millburn Jaguars by the score of 3-1.  The Jaguars goal was scored by Jessica Nadel.  Millie Dweck and Carly Geffner played great in goal and Lucy Grebin and Alexandra Kirshenbaum also excelled for the Jaguars.

The Millburn Crusaders U13 girls team won 4-0 over the Middlesex Mayhem at Mountainview Park in Middlesex on Sunday in the season opener. The first half was all pressure by the Crusaders who spent most of the half knocking on the door of the Mayhem defense.  The Crusaders hard work paid off when the ball fell to Emilie Cowan who punched a nice shot from just outside the box past the Mayhem keeper to go up 1-0.  The Mayhem held the Crusaders at bay for most of the rest of the half, but a breakaway move saw a nice pass fall onto the toes of Emilie Cowan who placed the ball skillfully into the net to go up 2-0.  The active Ilana Nemerow earned a reward for her efforts in a goalmouth skirmish that saw her pop the ball in from close range to close out the half 3-0. 

The second half saw positional changes with some players rotating out of the relatively untested Crusaders defense, putting fresh legs and continued pressure on the Mayhem.  Paula Weissenberg was notably active in quashing any openings the Mayhem might have had, laying the foundation for incisive running by Jamie Cutler and energetic work on the right wing by Yifel Li.  The match was put beyond all doubt when a strong solo run by Carolyne Leys down the center saw her blast the ball beyond the Mayhem keeper to seal the game for a deserved and well played 4-0 win.