It was only about a week-and-half ago that Montclair and Montclair Kimberley girls lacrosse teams took the field against each other. It was Montclair Girls Lacrosse Day.
Both teams needed to go extra time to decide the neighborhood rivalry battle at Woodman Field on April 27.
Mounties junior Olivia Nicoll scored the game-winner in the fifth overtime to defeat Montclair Kimberley, 9-8. That ended an 11-year drought of celebrating a win for Montclair against the Cougars. MKA sophomore Shea Murphy scored in the fourth quarter to send the match into overtime tied at 8 before Nicoll’s game-winning score.
And now on Wednesday (May 8) the two teams will face off again this time in the Essex County Tournament semifinals and at the same place, Woodman Field.
An Anticipated Match Up
It will be the first time since 2019 that the Mounties and Cougars have faced each other in the county tournament. Montclair Kimberley defeated Montclair, 7-6, at MKA also in the ECT semifinals that season. The Cougars lost to Glen Ridge in the 2019 ECT title match. Montclair Kimberley had also reached the ECT finals in 2021, only to lose to West Essex. Montclair’s recent trip to a county championship was last season as they fell to West Essex in the 2023 title match. The winner of another ‘Battle of Montclair’ will take on either top-seeded Glen Ridge or 4th-seeded West Essex on Saturday (May 11 4:30 p.m.) for the ECT title in Verona.
Montclair head coach Kim Depaolera said that she is confident in bringing home the program’s first Essex County Tournament championship since 2015 which would include another win over Montclair Kimberley on Wednesday if her charges followed the ‘game plan’.
“The key for us to win is just being present and executing everything we’ve worked for,” said Depaolera. Her team is 8-4 heading into the county semifinals. “Sticking to the game plan and focusing when adversity hits will be huge for us. Knowing how badly we want this and how hard we’ve worked is definitely good fuel for the team.”Â
Montclair Kimberley head coach Chelsea Goss pointed out what the ‘keys’ will be to win the program’s first county championship. “The keys for us making a county run will be staying confident in our abilities, playing fast, and playing together as a team,” said Goss, whose team is 11-1 heading into the semifinal match.
To get to the 2024 ECT semifinals, the second-seeded Mounties took care of seventh-seeded Caldwell, 17-8. The third-seeded Cougars slipped by sixth-seeded Verona, 15-10, both on May 6 in the county quarterfinals.
A Tough Loss
The defeat to Montclair this season was a tough pill to swallow but Goss’ team has shown it can come-from-behind. The Cougars were behind the Mounties for almost the entire game until sophomore Shea Murphy scored the game-tying goal at eight with a little more than five minutes left in regulation.
“Losing that game was tough but also a great learning experience for us,” said Goss, whose team’s only defeat so far has been to Montclair. “It made it clear to us that we still have a lot to work on as a team. It also showed us that we can always fight our way back into any game.”
Since Montclair Kimberley lost to Montclair, they have won three straight games before facing the Mounties in the ECT semis.
Before defeating Caldwell in the ECT quarterfinals, Montclair had been off about a week since a 21-11 win at Verona (April 30) in a regular season contest. “We decided to give the girls a much needed and deserved day off,” said Depaolera about a day last week. “We also decided to throw in some team bonding activities. Sometimes getting away from the ‘Xs and Os’ is necessary. As coaches we have to remember they’re more than athletes and that sometimes they need a reset or break to come back stronger. We’ve been practicing our sets and really focusing on sharpening our fundamental game.”
The difference in the ECT semifinal between Montclair and MKA might be two offensive players that were kept quiet in the April 27th contest.
Cougars senior Aeryn Curren, who has 44 goals going into Wednesday’s crucial battle, was kept off the scoreboard by the Montclair defense in the five-overtime win. And Mounties senior Liz Giordano, who had 30 goals heading into the county semifinals, only registered one goal against Montclair Kimberly in the regular season match. That was the first goal of the game.
Another key in the county semifinal match will be in goal.
Montclair Kimberley keeper Orly Sedransk, one of the top goalies in the state, was again solid against Montclair in the regular season game against the Mounties. Montclair keeper Sefina Morrison has improved since her first varsity start at the beginning of the season. She was one of the main reasons that the Mounties defeated the Cougars this season.
Depaolera said the future is bright for the rest of the season. “We’re definitely headed in the right direction. Our trajectory for this season is right where we want to be,” said the Montclair head coach. “We haven’t hit our peak, yet which tells us we’re still climbing that mountain. Hopefully we hit our high right when we need it the most. Overall, we’re really pleased with how the team is progressing. We believe we’re only going to get better and stronger from here on out.”