Montclair Kimberley soccer teams double their pleasure at Newark Academy in semis

Montclair Kimberley boys and girls soccer teams swept their Prep B semi-final matches on Thursday as part of a doubleheader at Newark Academy as the Cougars head to their tournament finals.

In the afternoon contest on Oct. 20, the sixth-seeded Cougars girls team scored late in the contest en route to a 2-1 victory over the second-seeded Minutemen in the Prep B girls soccer semi-finals.

And then at night the third-seeded MKA boys soccer scored two goals in the second half as the Cougars advanced to the Prep B boys soccer semi-finals with a 2-0 win over second-seeded Newark Academy.

For both squads it will be a repeat of the Prep B finals of 2021 and at the same exact sites.

On the Prep B girls soccer tournament, MKA (5-8-1) travels to top-seeded Rutgers Prep on Wednesday, Oct. 26 in the Prep B girls final, 2:30 p.m. The Cougars girls lost 1-0 at Rutgers Prep in the 2021 Prep B title game.

And on the Prep B boys soccer tournament, the Cougars (9-6-1) head to top-seeded Gill St. Bernard's, also on Wednesday, Oct. 26 in the Prep B boys title game, 2 p.m.. It will be the same setting as last year's Prep B title game where MKA won 3-2 at Gill St. Bernard's.

In the girls semi-finals Montclair Kimberley scored first and last.
Cougars senior forward Sofia Vinasco kicked the ball into the middle and a charging sophomore Helen Clothier smacked it by Newark Academy goalie Zoe Hermans for a 1-0 Cougars lead in the first half.

After Newark Academy got the equalizer early in the second half, Montclair Kimberley finally got their just deserts as they were peppering the Newark Academy keepers and it finally paid off.

With Vinasco in front of new Minutemen keeper Gina Schreier, Clothier on the wing served the ball to Vinasco inside and Schreier came charging out to stop Clothier.

Despite falling when colliding with the keeper, Vinasco was able to get just enough muster on the ball to kick into the net for the game-winner and propel the Cougars to the 2-1 victory.

For the MKA boys it was the youth of the squad that came through in the victory with a pair of sophomores and a freshman coming through for the Cougars.
It was sophomore keeper Alex Provost who kept MKA in the game.

And then sophomore Joey Nigro and freshman Nitai Jiminez-Stanley scored a goal each in the second half to push the Cougars boys to the Prep B final.