GLEN RIDGE, NJ – The Glen Ridge High School girls’ varsity soccer team is in seventh heaven!
The Ridgers, under 18th-year head coach Oscar Viteri, captured the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group 1 state tournament championship for a remarkable seventh straight year.
Sophomores Sydney Mansfield and Ania Prussak scored first-half goals to lead the third-seeded Ridgers to a 2-0 victory over fifth-seeded New Providence in the championship game held at Watsessing Park in Bloomfield on Friday, Nov. 9.
Prussak also assisted on Mansfield’s goal. Freshman Electtra Giantomenico made five saves to post the shutout.
The Ridgers, who improved to 10-7-2 with their fourth straight win after falling to unbeaten West Orange, 2-1, in overtime in the Essex County Tournament championship on Oct. 26, advanced to the NJSIAA Group 1 state semifinal against North 1 champion Midland Park on Tuesday, Nov. 13, a Indian Hills in Oakland at 7:30 p.m.
The other Group 1 semifinal pitted Central Jersey champion Shore Regional against South Jersey champion Audobon on Nov. 14 at Paul VI in Haddonfield at 7:30 p.m.
The NJSIAA Group 1 state championship will be held Sunday, Nov. 18, at Kean University in Union at 12:30 p.m.
GRHS has reached the NJSIAA Group 1 state final in each of the past three seasons and five of the last six seasons. In each of those five Group 1 state finals, the Ridgers faced Shore Regional.
GRHS beat Shore, 2-0, in 2012 at The College of New Jersey in Ewing. The next season, GRHS and Shore were declared co-champs after a 1-1 tie at TCNJ. In 2015, Shore beat GRHS, 2-1, in double overtime.
Shore won, 3-2, in 2016, and won, 5-4, last season. In the 2017 final, Shore scored the final three goals in the final 24:21 of regulation.
The finals were held at Kean University in each of the last three years.
Tara Feenaghty, a junior, scored both goals to lead the GRHS to a 2-0 win over seventh-seeded Secaucus in the North 2, Group 1 semifinals on Wednesday, Nov. 7, at Watsessing Park. Mansfield also had an assist and Giantomenico made four saves.
Glen Ridge outscored its four opponents, 14-1, in the sectional tournament. The Ridgers beat 14th-seeded Delaware Valley, 6-0, in the first round Oct. 30 and defeated sixth-seeded Whippany Park, 4-1, Nov. 2 in the quarterfinals, both at Watsessing Park.
Photos by Steve Ellmore
Glen Ridge vs. New Providence, sectional final, Nov. 9
Glen Ridge HS girls’ soccer team tops New Providence, 2-0, to win 7th straight North 2, Group 1 sectional title added by Joe Ragozzino on
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