West Orange's Justin Amaya leaps during the 1-0 loss to St. Benedict’s Prep in the Essex County Tournament final on Saturday, Nov. 1.
WEST ORANGE, NJ — The top-seeded West Orange High School boys soccer team advanced to the final of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s North Jersey, Section 1, Group 4 state tournament.
Yenke Suarez, a junior, scored two goals to lead the Mountaineers to a 5-1 win over No. 16 seed Bergen County Tech on Tuesday, Nov. 4, at Lincoln Field in West Orange in the first round.
Senior Carl Hall had one goal and two assists, junior Darius Millington had one goal and one assist, senior Marcus Jackson scored one goal, junior Justin Amaya had two assists and senior Denis Banegas had one assist. Junior goalie Agustin Aririeta made two saves.
In the quarterfinals, the Mountaineers defeated No. 9 seed Clifton 6-1 at Lincoln Field on Saturday, Nov. 8.
Sophomore Marcus Williams had two goals and one assist, Jackson and Suarez each had two goals, junior Jatniel Vargas Espino collected three assists, and Hall and senior Romuald Occil each had an assist. Arrieta made four saves.
The Mountaineers defeated No. 5 seed Montclair in the semifinals on Tuesday, Nov. 11, at home to improve to 21-2.
West Orange will host No. 3 seed Mount Olive in the final on Friday, Nov. 14, at 2 p.m.
WOHS head coach Doug Nevins was delighted with his team’s efforts.
“The first two rounds of states were very strong team efforts with many guys contributing,” Nevins said. “The defense led by Marcus Jackson, Niko Chiovarro, Chase Winds and (goalie) Agustin Arrieta have been fantastic. The midfield has also been great with Jatniel Vargas Espino, Marcus Willisams, Maddox Brufau, Justin Amaya, Joseph Castillo, Johnny Rebaza, Alex Deza and Darius Millington making strong contributions. The attack was really dangerous with Carl Hall, Denis Banegas, Aidan Ackerman and Yenke Suarez creating lots of goals.”
Photo Courtesy of Miles Burton/West Orange High School
About the Author
