A clear and sunny Friday afternoon at Montclair Kimberley Academy's (MKA) Van Brunt Field in Montclair set the stage for this North Jersey Non-Public A first-round game between the Morristown-Beard and MKA girls soccer teams.
Coming into this game, the eighth-ranked MKA Cougars had a five-game winning streak against Morristown-Beard with their last win dating back to the 2021-22 season.
Just under 10 minutes into the game, MKA earned their first corner kick, which was taken from the left corner flag. The kick was delivered to the back post where it was headed by junior midfielder Helen Clothier off the turf and towards Mo-Beard's goalkeeper, who parried the shot away. However, the rebound that she left was hammered into the back of the net by MKA senior forward Salange Bell, who gave the Cougars an early 1-0 lead.
At around the 20th minute mark, Clothier took another corner kick for the hosts but would put her own spin on it. Clothier scored an “Olimpico” (a goal scored directly from a corner kick) by sending a well-placed ball over the keeper's head and into the netting.
As a result, the hosts were beginning to take control of this game. Seven minutes after Clothier's Olimpico, MKA stretched its lead to three when a Cougar corner kick was delivered right into Morristown-Beard's six-yard box where Giselle Armstrong rose above her marker and headed the ball into the back of the net.
Cougars Continue Push in Second Half
The second half ended up being just a continuation of the first half. Morristown-Beard wasn’t able to mount much of anything offensively and this allowed the Cougars to continue to possess more of the ball and control the game completely.
Four minutes into the second half, Montclair Kimberley added a fourth goal when Cougar defender Ella Freeman ripped a right-footed strike over from a few yards outside Morristown Beard's 18-yard box into the upper left corner of the net to give the hosts a commanding 4-0 lead.
Montclair Kimberley head coach Luke Terkowski’s Cougars could relax now they had a 4-0 lead and he made several substitutions that gave a rest to their starters. The Cougars who were subbed in included defenders Emma Choy and midfielders Maddie Polanskyj and Bebe Scuuorzo. However, Coach Terkowski decided to leave a few starters on the pitch.
One of those was one of his top offensive players, Clothier, who finished top ten among point leaders in the Super Essex Conference’s (SEC) American division with five goals and three assists throughout the regular season. Late in the second half, Clothier made it 5-0 when she decided to cross the ball from 30 yards out into MB's box and her cross was headed into the net by an opponent. With a few minutes left to play, MKA weathered a few corner kicks taken by Morristown-Beard before the final whistle sounded and they were through to the Quarterfinals for the second year in a row.
What's Next for MKA Girls Soccer?
On the day, MKA senior forward, Salange Bell scored the first goal of the game. She came to play with a purpose knowing that if her team lost, it would spell the end of her high school soccer career as well as three of her teammates.
This means a lot to me especially because this could have potentially been my last game. We all stepped up together. Coming off of a win three days ago, we stepped up again to beat our opponents five-zero.
As impressive as this performance was for the MKA Girls Soccer team's veteran leadership, it was equally impressive for MKA Girls Soccer head coach Luke Terkowski and his staff. MKA hired Terkowski in January to take over a team that had finished the previous season with a losing record.
So far, it's been so good for Terkowski in his first season in charge and he described what he thought of his team's' first half performance.
We've actually started quite a lot of games slowly this season, so to get off to a fast start was obviously a big help, but in the warm-up today we could see [our players] were focused. They were locked in and when they have that mindset, they can beat any team.
The next opponent for the MKA Girls Soccer team isn't just "any team." Their opponent is Immaculate Heart Academy, an All-Girls Catholic preparatory school located in Bergen County, who finished second in the Big-North Girls Soccer Division and 8th in the Big-North's Overall standings.
The MKA and Immaculate Heart Academy girls' soccer teams have met three times in the North Jersey Non-Public A state tournament since 2020 and in each of those games, the Cougars lost, including a brutal 7-0 defeat in last year's Quarterfinal. Despite that, this year's MKA Girls Soccer team is different from last year's and under a new coaching staff that guided this year's MKA to a strong first round playoff victory, the results could be different.
If you would've said we'd be 8-6-2 at the start of the season, I would've thought you were crazy, but when you have a group who wants to improve like this group does, it makes your job easier. The girls were ready and focused today and we'll be ready for IH next week. They beat us handsomely last year and I'm sure everyone fancies IH, which is good, but we'll be ready.
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