WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange High School boys soccer team, under 26-year head coach Doug Nevins, has a strong returning group from last year’s successful 14-5-1 season.
The Mountaineers have enjoyed a stellar start to this season, going 4-0 through Sept. 8.
The returning players are senior center back Marcus Jackson, senior forward Carl Hall, senior midfielder Alex Deza, junior goalkeeper Agustin Arrieta, senior forward Luc Brown, junior defender Niko Chiovaro, junior outside midfielder Justin Amaya, sophomore center midfielder Chase Winds and junior defender Jostin Pereira.
Jackson, a four-year starter, is one of the top players in the state. The UCLA commit earned All–Super Essex Conference–American Division, All–Essex County and All–State honors last year.
Hall, a four-year starter, led the team in scoring last season with 12 goals and six assists, while playing the first half of the season as the team’s holding midfielder. He earned all-conference and all-county honors, as well as all-section by the Soccer Coaches Association of New Jersey. Deza, a three-year starter, is super skilled and creative, Nevins said. He posted four goals and five assists en route to earning conference, all-county and all-section accolades last season.
Arrieta returns in net as a three-year starter.
Brown, a two-year starter, notched six goals and five assists last season.
Chiovaro, a two-year starter, was an all-conference and all-county honoree a year ago.
Amaya is a two-year starter; Winds played significant minutes as a freshman, while scoring two goals, before missing half the season with an injury; and Pereira started or played significant minutes in every game as a sophomore last year.
The Mountaineers defeated West Essex 4-0 in the season-opener on Sept. 2 at home. Hall had one goal and two assists; Deza had a goal and an assist; and senior Dennis Banegas and sophomore Aidan Ackerman each had a goal. Arrieta made two saves and senior Dylan Flitt made one to combine on the shutout.
Amaya scored on an assist from Hall at 25:17 of the second half in the 1-0 home win over Montclair Kimberley Academy on Sept. 4 in SEC–American Division play.
Hall had a hat trick and Millington had one goal and one assist in the 6-0 home win over South Plainfield in a non-conference game on Sept. 6.
Junior Jatniel Vargas Espino and senior Estaban Chiriboga each had a goal. Jackson, Williams, Winds and sophomore Maddox Brufau each had one assist. Arrieta made two saves and junior Keaton Capuano made one save for the shutout.
WOHS defeated Plainfield 5-0 on Sept. 8, at home. Hall had one goal and two assists; Jackson, Millington and Williams and Ackerman each had a goal; and Amaya had two assists.
Arieta made three saves, and Flitt and sophomore Sebastian Candido each had one save.
Nevins, who became the WOHS head coach in 2000, has a whopping career record of 391-112-31.
WOHS, seeded third, went 1-1 in the Essex County Tournament last season, beating No. 14 seed Belleville, 2-0, in the first round and losing to town neighbor and No. 6 seed Seton Hall Prep, 1-0, in the quarterfinals. The Mountaineers, seeded fourth, also went 1-1 in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s North Jersey, Section 1, Group 4 state tournament, beating No. 13 seed Memorial, of West New York, 4-1,in the first round and falling to No. 5 seed Montclair, 2-0, in the quarterfinals.
Upcoming games:
Sept. 12: at Newark Academy, 4 p.m.
Sept. 19: Linden, 7 p.m.
Sept. 22: at Belleville, 4 p.m.
Sept. 24: Seton Hall Prep, 5 p.m.
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