West Orange HS girls soccer team is No. 1 seed in the ECT

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WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange High School girls soccer team received the No. 1 seed in the Essex County Tournament.

The Lady Mountaineers, under head coach Sean Devore, received a preliminary-round bye and will host a first-round game on or by Oct. 7 against the preliminary-round winner between No. 17 Belleville and No. 16 Newark East Side.

Montclair is the No. 2 seed; West Essex is the No. 3 seed; Newark Academy is seeded No. 4 and Montclair Kimberley Academy is seeded fifth in the 18-team field.

The quarterfinals are Saturday, Oct. 9, at the higher-seeded sites. The semifinals are Wednesday, Oct. 13, at Millburn. The final is Saturday, Oct. 16, at Belleville.

West Orange is coming off two impressive games against Montclair Kimberley Academy and West Essex in Super Essex Conference–American Division play.

“The girls had a really great week with a 2-2 draw at MKA and a 3-0 win over West Essex who was ranked 20th in the state,” stated West Orange head coach Sean Devore. “This puts our record at 6-1-2. It is an honor to be the top seed in the ECT, but at the end of the day, the seed is only a number. In my 7 years of being the coach here, this is the most wide-open ECT I’ve seen. I think there are a bunch of teams that can go through and win. Right now, our only focus is on playing the winner of Belleville/Newark East Side in the round of 16. 

“We have a difficult game against a very good Cranford team on Saturday (Oct. 2) before the ECT starts next week. The team is playing well and are finding their team chemistry. It should be a really fun tournament.”

Essex County Tournament

Preliminary round

by Oct. 5

No. 17 Belleville at No. 16 East Side

No. 18 Orange at No. 15 Cedar Grove

First round

by Oct. 7

winner of Belleville/East Side at No. 1 West Orange

No. 9 Glen Ridge at No. 8 Millburn

No. 12 Caldwell at No. 5 Montclair Kimberley Academy

No. 13 Mount St. Dominic at No. 4 Newark Academy

winner of Orange/Cedar Grove at No. 2 Montclair

No. 10 Verona at No. 7 Nutley

No. 11 Bloomfield at No. 6 Livingston

No. 14 Columbia at No. 3 West Essex

Quarterfinal round

Oct. 9, at higher-seeded sites

winner of Glen Ridge/Millburn vs. winner of Belleville/East Side-West Orange

winner of Caldwell/MKA vs. winner of Mount St. Dominic-Newark Academy

winner of Verona/Nutley vs. winner of Orange/Cedar Grove-Montclair

winner of Bloomfield/Livingston vs. winner of Columbia/West Essex

Semifinals

Oct. 13, at Millburn, 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Final

Oct. 16, at Belleville, 7 p.m.

Photos Courtesy of Meredith Mitchell