Nyah McKinney – In Our School/Editorials Editor
November 14th, 2022

WEST ORANGE, NJ — “The girls were the Essex County Champions for the 2nd year in a row. The program has only qualified for the ECT final 3 times in program history and have won all 3 times. They also qualified for the N1G4 state sectional final this year but lost in the final. Overall, the team finished #1 In the Super Essex Conference, #7 in Group 4 and #15 in the state.” reported Meredith Mitchell, the mother of Senior Captain and Midfielder Sidda Mitchell, and the manager behind the @wogsoccer Instagram.

This year, the West Orange Girls’ Soccer team performed outstandingly with a 16-4-1 overall record. Sept. 8. was the season opener with an intense matchup leading into double overtime against one of their biggest rivalries, Montclair, with a final score of 3-3. The girls would later see the Cavaliers in the state tournament for an intense showdown.

Sept. 17. West Orange played their tougher games against West Field who were ranked #1 in the state and #4 in the country, but the girls only fell short by one goal.

“It was a good experience because that was our most challenging game [at the time] and since it was in the beginning of the season it gave us a good idea of how well we could play together and what future games are going to be like. It also showed us what we needed to work on when we faced tougher teams.” shared Senior Captain and Midfielder Charley Dvorin.

By the end of Sept., the girls racked up a 7-1-2 record. Their first game of Oct. would be a battle against another huge rivalry, Livingston.

“Livingston is a big rival… There’s never one team that is clearly better than the other,” said NJ.com’s Coach of the year and Head Coach of the girls team, Sean Devore, also a history teacher at WOHS, who now completed his 13th year as a head coach and 21st year coaching overall.

The Mountaineers would end up losing this regular season matchup against Livingston 1-0, however, this loss would come into play as this was not the last time the girls would take on the Lancers for the season.

After a 1-0 win against Millburn, West Orange would advance to the First Round Essex County Tournament where the girls would beat Newark East Side 2-0 and then beat Millburn 1-0 in the Quarterfinal Round of the ECT bringing them to the Semifinal Round, a game that particularly stood out to West Orange.

“I think my proudest moment actually was our comeback in the semifinals… It was just a wonderful last 20 minutes and that was probably the most fun moment.” Devore pridefully recalled.

Only Livingston would score within the first half of the semifinal game, but this did not leave West Orange discouraged for Sophomore Midfielder Amina Diop who would set the tone, for the last 20 minutes of the second half, with a corner kick bringing the game to a tie. With 15 minutes left, Junior Forward Madison Cyrus would score leading West Orange 2-1. Finally, Junior Jaiden Schultz would finish the game scoring off an assist from Cyrus with only four minutes left in the fierce match.

“We had already lost to them in the regular season and that really brought the girls down. The semifinals were played on their turf and so the team really had to bring their A game. I was so proud of how the girls handled themselves and were able to work together and get the win!” reflected Meredith Mitchell.

West Orange’s victorious win over Livingston in the semifinal round advanced them to the Final Round of the tournament against Glen Ridge on Oct. 22. Sidda Mitchell, who is now committed to McDaniel College, started the game off by scoring within the first five minutes. Soon another goal would follow by Senior Captain and Midfield/Defender Anna Deer who scored off of a free kick made by Mitchell. Sophomore Goalie Hanna Amoyaw then made a great save to conclude the first half of the tournament. In the second half, Diop made the score 3-0 with 18 minutes left in the second half, followed by a goal from Cyrus with nine minutes left, and a final beat down to Glen Ridge with a goal from Schultz ending the game with an incredibly high score of 5-0.

Four days later, WOGS would win the First Round of the North Jersey Group 4 Section 1 NJSIAA Tournament against Passaic with a high score of 6-0 followed by another win against North Bergen in the Quarter Round with the same score another three days later.

An active crowd came out to support the girls as they faced their rivalry Montclair for a second time in the Semifinal Round. West Orange would beat Montclair with a score of 1-0, a game full of emotions on the Mountaineers’ home turf on Nov. 1.

“It was very emotional [winning] because we had never beaten Montclair home or away. Last year, we lost 1-0 to a bad call, giving them a penalty, so there were a lot of emotions at that game.” said star goalie Amoyaw who made eight saves in the semifinals this year. “Also, Jaiden had a great goal.”

Jaiden Schultz, who is committed to Boston University, was out for 8-9 games for the season but would come back to make eight goals and three assists. Her goal in the Montclair game was a prime example of how hard she, and West Orange players alike, worked for their victories.

“We hadn’t beat Montclair [since] 2018. It’s been a while so it was good and we advanced to the sectional final. It was one of our better wins in the last couple of years for sure.” said Devore.

West Orange made it as far as the N1G4 Sectional Finals where they ranked No. 16 seed against No. 4 seed Ridgewood at that time according to the NJ.com Top 20. The finals were played on Saturday, Nov. 5, for a final West Orange loss. In the first half of the finals, the score was an exhausting 0-0 with one save by Hanna Amoyaw. At 35 minutes in the second half, Ridgewood scored, leading 1-0 over West Orange. And with 18 minutes left, Ridgewood scored again making it 2-0. Finally, Ridgewood made it a final score of 3-0 with 10 minutes left in the game.

Although it was a tough loss, the girls did not fall short in their accomplishments this season.

So what was the recipe for the girls’ success this season?

Their craft is simple. 40 minutes doing the fundamentals; receiving, passing, shooting, clearing. Then 20 minutes of tactical awareness and whatever other skills focus they are working on. Finally, they end with set pieces and call it a day. So, the commitment that each of the players put into their game, along with the majority who play club year-round, advances their play.

“The girls do a nice job of doing things on their own. They’ll have team get-togethers or they’ll go off for breakfast on a Sunday morning, so I think all that stuff really does help on the field as well.” said Devore who states the team is active with team bonding.

“I’ve learned that’s extremely important in high school sports because if you do not have team chemistry you are in trouble and this team I thought had excellent team chemistry.”

Overall, the girls represented West Orange with many victories and a lot of pride this year. Sidda Mitchell, Anna Deer, and Jaiden Schultz were recognized as the SEC American Division first team, Madison Cyrus and Lauren Villisain made the second team, and honorable mentions recognized Charley Dvorin and Amina Diop. Sidda Mitchell ranked top assist leader with 17 assists in both the Group 4 and Super Essex Conference. Lauren Villisin earned nine goals to her name this season, eight from Jaiden Schultz, seven from Madison Cyrus, and six apiece from Anna Deer and Amina Diop who created a strong backline throughout the season.

Devore ended with a final reflection for his team, “I thought it was a great year, we will miss our seniors, they’ve done a wonderful job for 4 years, but we do have a lot back … so I know the girls are all going to improve in the off-season and I’m looking forward to next season already.”