Millburn Girls Top Montclair In Overtime

The Millburn girls soccer team shook off a less than stellar start to the season on Friday afternoon, picking up a huge win over previously unbeaten Montclair.

In what was easily the Millers' biggest victory of the season, extremely physical play and stingy defense was the overwhelming theme in Millburn's 2-1 thrilling overtime win at Dr. Keith A. Neigel Field.

"I'm ecstatic with the win," said Millburn head coach Andy Sones. "Today it was either going to confirm that or it was going to give us an opportunity to turn it around. That was the challenge I said to the players before the game and they definitely stepped up."

With under one minute left in overtime, Millburn's Katie Beimfohr found her sister Emily in the middle of the goalie box with a perfect corner. Emily, with players crowding the box, got a head on the ball and put it home for the golden goal.

"I'm honestly going to say it was a lucky ball, but I'm glad it happened," Katie said. "It was just a good ball right in, Emily just knocked it right in, we were lucky to get it."

Nikki Willens got things started for the Millers, scoring on a penalty kick in the 17th minute. But that, with the exception of one shot by Taylor Perretti in the closing minutes of the opening half, was the extent of the offensive pressure the Millers put on the Mounties in the opening 40 minutes.

Montclair controlled the majority of possession in the first half. But because of good clearances in the final third by the Millers, Montclair held just a 6-3 shot advantage at the break despite possessing it for most of the half.

At the 10:12 mark of the opening period, Montclair standout Maya Pitts got a step on Millburn's defense and the Millers were never able to recover. Pitts raced more than 50 yards down the field, bodying Miller defenders off the ball, before beating Millburn's keeper to the right netting of the goal with a rocket, tying up the game at one.

The final 40 minutes of regulation was just a back-and-forth battle with neither team ever able to get a real good scoring opportunity. Millburn controlled possession slightly more in the final 40, but both squads ended with five shots on goal a piece in the second half.

"We emphasized at halftime, the need to deal with their players. I thought we did that in the second half and as the game became stretched, I thought we were able to attack them more effectively," Sones said.

A Montclair red card with 7:40 left in the game may have meant the difference in the end with the Millers a man up as a result. But Millburn attempted just one shot from then till the end of the game to Montclair's three. The red card was the culmination of a very chippy game that also saw one yellow card on both sides.

"I thought it was a hard fought game. I thought our hands were tied with some of the calls that were made, forcing us to play a man down at the end," said Montclair head coach Chris Johnson. "I congratulate Millburn's effort and I congratulate our girls for working hard and bringing the game to them... I thought the officials lost control of the game. They lost control of the game early, and they were picking and choosing when to make calls."

This game was a little bit bigger for Millburn than for Montclair, which fell to 6-1 overall. With the win Millburn stays alive for a SEC American Division championship, now having just two losses within the division. It also improves them to 5-2, as opposed to falling to 4-3, and kind of kick starts their season.

"This was huge. Especially since last year, we knew they were gunning for us after coming back and winning the county finals," Katie Beimfohr said. "This is where we're going to start our season. We're just hopefully going to keep it going from here, getting wins and staying strong."