Wolfpack Girls Soccer Falls to Millburn in Section Final

The West Morris Central girls soccer team kept knocking at the door all afternoon on Friday, but unfortunately for the Wolfpack, no one was there to answer.

West Morris Central conceded an early goal to Millburn in the North II Group 3 section final. And despite controlling most of the possession, especially in the second half, the Wolfpack girls were unable to break through for the equalizer.

Fifth-seeded Millburn was able to hold off a relentless late push by the No. 3-seeded West Morris Central in Chester and  took a 1-0 win.

"Giving up an early goal in big game like this is detrimental," said West Morris Central head coach Ken Rossi. "Soccer is not a high scoring game. They can just sit players back and we have to go at them."

"We talked about trying to score early," said Millburn head coach Andy Sones. "It was never going to be a pretty game on this field. But on a field like this, you'd rather be hanging on to a lead than chasing."

Following a throw-in by Miller co-captain Emily Beimfohr, Millburn sophomore Jenny Olensky settled the ball just outside of the goalie box in Wolfpack territory and fired a low liner that just snuck in past the diving Allyson Tank on the right side of the net.

"I was just in the right place at the right time. I just made sure I was at the top of the box, usually there's scraps, so I just took a shot," Olensky said. "It feels great. I'm so ecstatic that we worked together so well as a team."

Olensky's eventual game-winning score came in the second minute of play, and Millburn's defense was able to take care of the rest.

From then on, West Morris Central controlled the better part of the possession, but did most of its damage outside of the goalie box. While the Wolfpack girls were out-shot by the Millers 5-4 in the contest, they seemed to be always threatening with the ball just outside of Millburn's box.

But Millburn's back line was phenomenal in its ability to clear the ball on Friday, and did not allow West Morris Central a single good look on net. Neither of West Morris Central's four shots had a serious chance of going in.

"I think they're good defensively, we didn't get a lot of quality shots," Rossi said. "We moved the ball well and we had attacks but we didn't get anything super dangerous on net till a header in the last six."

Millburn improved to 14-6-1 with the victory and moves on to the Group 3 semis to face the winner of Ramapo and Northern Highlands on Tuesday night at Ridge High School in Basking Ridge. The Millers have been outstanding on defense this postseason, winning their four games by a combined score of 6-0. In fact, the Millers have surrendered just two goals in their last eight contests.

"I can't speak highly enough of my defenders, particularly Tanya Sood, who I think has just had her best three games of the season," Sones said. "We've just had five shutouts, three of them were games where we were absolutely struggling at times. But Tanya is just a rock back there. I thought all of our defenders were excellent."

The Miller girls defeated Belleville in the first round, then Mendham in penalty kicks on the road, followed by a road 1-0 win over Scotch Plains in the semis, before Friday's victory.

"Through the whole of this run, we've shown an ability to hang in there, even when things were going against us," Sones said. "Scotch Plains was a good example of that, Mendham was an example of that. We come into people's houses and we knock them down."

For many of the girls who were on last year's Millburn team, which lost in the sectional finals in PKs, this victory was even sweeter because of how long of a road it has been. Three years ago, Millburn won the conference, last season it  took the county and this year it won the section.

"Last year we just couldn't score a goal and this year we score with like two minutes into the game," said Miller keeper Tori Graessle, who started and made three first half saves. "It was a great shot and it was just all worth it."

"It's awesome and it means more because of what we went through last year. The girls did really well," Sones said.

West Morris Central's season comes to an end after a stellar campaign. The Wolfpack girls end with a 12-5-4 record and a very impressive run through the state tournament. In the second round they defeated Parsippany Hills 2-1 following a first round bye. In the semifinals they eked out a PK victory over second-seeded Somerville, before losing on Friday to Millburn.

"[The season] has been very successful. I'm very proud of the kids, they've worked very hard," Rossi said. "But it's disappointing losing in the finals."