BLOOMFIELD, NJ – In arguably its biggest win in program history, the 14th-seeded Belleville High School varsity girls’ soccer team upset 11th-seeded Bloomfield, 1-0, in the second preliminary round of the Essex County Tournament on Monday night, Oct. 16, at Foley Field in Bloomfield.
The game with Bloomfield game was already on the schedule for that night as a regular-season game. When the pairings for the ECT were unveiled, the two schools decided to make it the county game.
Two days earlier, the Lady Buccaneers lost to West Orange, 4-0, in a Super Essex Conference game. West Orange also is the top seed in the ECT and improved to 11-0-3.
Despite the loss, the experience of playing West Orange was invaluable for the Lady Bucs.
“They (West Orange) are such a quality program! I’m glad we got to play them so my girls could see just what a top team looks like,” said first-year Belleville head coach Bethann Garrett. “We had some opportunities but didn’t capitalize. After the game I told my girls, ‘we didn’t get the game we wanted, but we got the game we needed.’ We had a great early morning training session on Sunday to prep for Monday and my girls were feeling good going into the game.”
Against Bloomfield, the Lady Bucs turned it up as the game progressed.
“We started off a little flat, but picked it up midway through the first half. We made a couple of changes at halftime and really stepped up our intensity in the second half. We had some missed chances but ultimately got a hard earned goal from junior Lindsey Reira with about 11 minutes left in the game. Our keeper, Janelle Ramirez, made a couple of key saves in the second half to hold them off. Our defense was solid, as they have been throughout the season, and really did a great job of shutting things down for the majority of the second half.”
Belleville, which improved to a strong 10-3 record, will visit sixth-seeded West Essex in the first round on Oct. 18 at 4 p.m. in North Caldwell. The winner will visit third-seeded Livingston in the quarterfinals on Saturday, Oct. 21.
Garrett, indeed, is ecstatic for her team.
“This year’s team has really worked hard to get stronger and play as one on the field, which showed Monday night,” she said. “As with any program, we have some things we can still get better at, but I’m happy with how my girls are playing right now.”
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