Millburn Soccer Club Round-Up: State Cup Sweep

The Millburn Soccer Club provided this round-up of its action from last weekend:

In the second round of New Jersey State Cup soccer play, all four of our participating Millburn teams came away with victories.  The U13 Girls Sting team beat the Ewing Hawks in overtime at home.  The U13 Boys Raiders traveled to far South Jersey to beat the Cape Express Derailers.  The U12 Boys Pythons team also traveled south to beat the Rancocas Valley Blaze.  To seal the sweep, the U11 Boys Titans beat the Pasco Galaticos on our home field 

The Sting defeated Ewing Hawks 2-1 in overtime in the second round of the New Jersey State Cup. Meg Damstrom scored both goals, the second off a corner kick from Caitlin Lally and assist from Paige Willian. The first goal was assisted by Jess Alexander and Christy Dwyer. Strong defense came from Lauren O'Neil, Allie Graves and Emily Torre plus stellar goalkeeping from Liz Elder.  

Also on Saturday, the Raiders advanced to the quarterfinal round of New Jersey State Cup with a 6-3 win over the Cape Express Derailers.  Josh Goldstern recorded a hat trick with Chris Stone, Daniel Ratner and Sean Regan also contributing goals.    

The Millburn Titans beat The PASCO Galacticos Saturday by a score of 2-0 in an exciting second-round victory in the New Jersey State Cup Championship. After a nail-biting first-half, Max Engelbrechtsen assisted Josiah Crawford with only six minutes to play in the game for the tie-breaking goal. Bryce Millington scored from 40 yards out to score the second goal.   The Titans' strong defensive effort was led by Ben Kessler, Nick Maldonado, Ben Pampush and Jonathan Wang.  

Regular season play

The Millburn Strikers posted a 1-1 tie with the Somerset Cobras Saturday. David Toradze scored the Strikers' lone goal as a result of a penalty kick. Scott Wright and Andrew Tham excelled in defense.

The Flash tied Metuchen United, 1-1.  Melissa Gates scored on a rebound from Grace Mayo's shot that bounced off goal.  Antonia Park and Gioia Basile provided outstanding defense throughout the game, and Grace Mayo recorded an exceptional save in goal to preserve the draw.

Caleigh Trachtman and Maggie Speckhart both scored two goals, and Leah Mangold scored a goal for a 5-1 victory over the West Windsor-Plainsboro Spurs.  Taylor Nemet, Lane Patterson and Kyra Goldman all had assists in the game. Aubrey Wright and Remie Lamkin played strong defense for the team.

The Millburn Blast came from behind to beat the Monroe Township Bombers 2 - 1 on Saturday.  In the second half, Michael O'Keef scored the first goal followed shortly with a second goal by Justin Green.  Strong play in the midfield by  Jacob Updyke and on defense by Jacob Poplow contributed to the win.  Covering the goal were Andrew Wohlbruck and Jonah Liwschitz.

The Piranhas recorded a tough 1-0 road victory against the Parsippany Fire. Ellie Forster scored the games lone goal for the Piranhas. Ella Parlavecchio and Cara Flyer anchored the defense and Kelsey McCarthy and Maddie Driscoll also turned in strong efforts.

The Millburn Blaze suffered its first loss of the season to North Brunswick United by a score of 3-1. Tyler Barishaw scored the lone Millburn goal. Stellar offense was provided by Nick Visceglia and Ethan Lenner. Zach Graves and Bennett Garcia starred for the defense in the losing effort.  

The Millburn U-9 Rockets played the Flemington Heat to a 1-1 tie Sunday afternoon. The Heat scored first in the second half to take a 1-0 lead, but tenacious defense led by solid all-around play from Cole Freeman kept the Rockets in the game and Alex Dorfschneider scored late on an assist from goalkeeper Ben Chrzanowski to tie the game.

The Cobras moved to 3-0 with a 2-1 victory over the South Plainfield Arsenal Sunday. Will Rosenberg's direct kick for a goal broke a 1-1 tie late in the second half.  Charlie Levison was credited with the Cobras' first goal.  Josh Baum, Nick Gates, Michael Kologlu and Evan Fliesig turned in solid play for the Cobras.   

The Millburn Gunners kept a talented Clark team at bay with rock solid defense and constant pressure by the offense.  A tremendous and exciting finish by the Gunners led to a 2-0 win. Alfie Smith sizzled a shot over the head of the goalie from 18 yards out off of a set play and Blake Wiseman connecting with Jason Mazar  for a classic 1-2 that enabled Jason to break free for a beautiful goal, both within the last five minutes of regulation play.    

The Millburn Heat battled NJ Roma to a 3-2 victory on Sunday. Thomas Barraque scored in the first half on a play set up by Zach Butter and Sam Meyerowitz. After falling behind 2-1, Christian Clark opened the second half with a goal to tie up the game. Meyerowitz scored on a penalty kick to put the Heat ahead for good. Jack Marx helped lead the team with outstanding all-around play.    

The Millburn Spirit U13 girls played a strong game against the Holmdel SC Strikerson.  Millburn dominated the game and won 1-0 with a commanding shot by Faith Belcuore at 20 minutes into the first half.  Jenn Jacobs and Victoria Jordan at defensive mid field backed up by Alexa Jentis at right defense kept the play on the opposing side of the field for most of the game. 

The Magic lost their first game of the year to a powerful Brick Fury team 2-1. The Magic's loan goal came from Kaylee Donnelly on a free kick from 25 yards out that went over the outstretched arms of the goal keeper. Morgan Darrow, Gabriella Kowalczyk and Julia Zucosky played great defense. The trio of goalies Avani Kabra, Alexandra Linsey and Carsyn Mclaughlin made spectacular saves.

The Millburn Rangers lost to the Livingston Lions 2-0 in a closely contested, hard fought game.  The Rangers were led by the superb all-around play of Zachary Barr and stellar defensive play from Ryder Stine and Zachary Faust.  The Rangers also received excellent goaltending from Luke Pickard and Jason Lefkort. 

The Cranford United defeated the Millburn Jaguars by the score of 2-0 on Sunday.  Arielle Fried, Carly Geffner and Anna Quinn starred for the Jaguars

On Sunday the Millburn Strikers played a scoreless tie with the Cranford Cosmos. Alun Stern and Will Johnson starred on offense while Sam Eglow and Jake Hubertus anchored the defense.

The U-12 Pythons defeated the Newark Den of Lions, 3-0, in Sunday's game.  Connor Lally led off the scoring for the Pythons, with an assist from Eric Silverstein off a pass from Christiano Hocken.  Hocken then converted a corner kick by Perry Schwartz for a second goal.  Richie Schiekofer added the Python's final goal with the offensive play set up by Andrew Karp with a pass to Silverstein who assisted on the goal.  Logan Schneider, Gabriel Nadell, Justin Wang, and keeper Justin Ehly held up the defensive side in the shut out.  Drew Cohn, Spencer Schneider, Nathaniel Charendoff, Will Anton, Matthew Brenner and Nathan Charendoff kept the Den of Lion's team on the run with quick passing and relentless attacks on goal. 

A last minute goal from Julia Newman secured a 2-0 win for Tornadoes at Hunterdon United Hurricanes on Sunday. Clare Hernon provided the assist. Tornadoes had taken the lead with 10 minutes remaining when Tori Defilippo converted Mica MacInnes' pass with a well struck shot from 15 yards. Once again Tornadoes winning performance was founded on a strong defense marshaled by Eva Melendes, with Phoebe Oxley recording a shut-out in her first full game wearing the goalkeeper's jersey.  

On Sunday, the Flash lost a tough match to the Oceanport Lady Knights Blue team, 2-0.  Sydney Rosenbaum and Isabelle Burakov contributed exceptional midfield play in the effort.

The Barracuda's defeated the Bridgewater Strikers 4-0. Carly Dinowitz scored the first goal with the assist coming from Paige Nemet.  Emma Cappanna got into the action with a great goal, assisted by Yasmin Hallinan.  Maggie Speckhart chipped in two more goals to have four over the weekend. Julia Pampush and Devon Thomas played amazing keeping the ball on the offensive side for most of the game.

The Missiles played a tough game against the Westfield Celtics.  Despite the great defense played by Tarun Mittal, Kyle Jacobs and Zack Parker as goalie, they lost 3-1.  The Missile's goal was scored by Eric Lieberman.  There were lots of aggressive plays by Will Maddox and Austin Wolk.

On Sunday, the Titans beat Princeton Premier by a score of 5-0.  Ben Kessler scored a hat trick, including a header goal off a great cross from Matthew Jordan. Josiah Crawford and Ben Bograd also scored for the Titans. Reese Little anchored the Titans defense.

The Millburn Dynamite dominated on both sides of the field during their 3-1 victory over the Union Beach Cougars on Sunday.  Gina Saggio scored two goals and Peyton Schwartz scored once while Yenna Ji, Bridget Meuller and Rachel Evenchick provided stellar play in the Dynamite's first win of the season.

The Millburn Braves (U11) beat the Greater Flemington Scorpions 3-0 at home.  Ross Gang scored two goals (assists by Henry Dench and Owen Florin), and Ryan Wenslau scored one (assist by Matthew Bernstein). The goalies were Atah Abdi and Henry Cohen.  Spencer Marell and Mark Nagpal starred on defense.

The Monarchs won a nail-biter to beat the Westfield Wizards 1-0 with great effort by the entire team. Barri Boyarsky scored the winning goal. Ami Gianchandani, Niamh Freeman, Ilyse Reisman and Samantha Goldman played outstanding midfield with Shea Smith, Isabelle Orlan, Olivia Stack and Emily Kanter battling in defense.

Despite a brisk start in breezy conditions at MHS last Sunday, the Millburn Crusaders U13 Girls succumbed 4-0 to Pennington United Pythons.  Millburn opened well and dominated much of the first half but had no luck in front of goal.  As the Pythons began to slide forward, defenders Mariela McCconoughey and Emma Lipsky closed them down and Paige Solender made some telling interceptions to keep them at bay.  Excellent work from keeper Rachel Rubenstein, including an aerial one-handed save to push the ball past the post, were ultimately not enough to prevent the Pythons from scoring twice before the half ended.  In the second half the Pythons made good use of the wings to flight the ball into the box where another Rubenstein one-hander again denied them.  Great running by Taylor Leen and Ilana Nemerow began to redress the balance as the half wore on, and Sydnie Hom was active in left defense. But eventually the Pythons pressure paid off as they netted twice more to end the game 4-0.