MONTCLAIR- If West Essex’s Adie Minnella was feeling any pressure to go out and set a new school scoring record, she certainly didn’t show any nerves during Saturday’s Essex County Tournament final at Watchung Field.
In fact, with her blistering shot and ability to seemingly always be in the right place at the right time in order to capitalize in the moment, she was simply the most dominant player on the field.
The Villanova-bound standout scored four goals, including the 146th of her stellar scholastic career while also holding school records for assists with 110 and points with 402 while leading the top-seeded Knights to a 5-0 victory over third-seeded Montclair Kimberley Academy for a 14th straight ECT title.
Minnella eclipsed the previous West Essex school record of 145 career goals held by Michelle Vizzuzo (Class of 1995), who scored a state-single season record of 69 goals in 1994. Vizzuzo was a college All-American at the University of Virginia and a U.S. National Team member who played in the 2020 Olympic Qualifying Tournament. She was also The Star-Ledger’s Field Hockey Player of the Century.
Back in September Minnella had also previously established a new school assist record of 103 that had been set last fall by Sophia Sisco, while she also surpassed the prior top school point total of 354 which had been established by Natalie Cafone in 2011.
While Minnella continues to build on her own amazing resume it’s her West Essex teammates who she continues to emphasize have been most important in her heart and mind as she enjoyed a very special individual moment on another county championship afternoon.
“Knowing just how great a player Michelle was I definitely appreciate how special that goal record was, but I really owe this all to my teammates because they’ve helped me a lot through everything this season,” said West Essex’s senior leader, who is the daughter of the Knights’ longtime head coach Jill Cosse and retired West Essex Athletic Director Anthony Minnella. “They’ve kept me calm while telling me not to put pressure on myself and to not be afraid to just go out and play my game, which has helped me a lot.
“We all wanted to go out there today and show that we’ve continued to develop as a team in the last month since we last played them, and I felt that we dominated and capitalized on all our moments. We didn’t have what I call ‘dull’ quarters, where we might have not played up to our capabilities, and being more consistent from start to finish has been a real emphasis for us to try and achieve, especially now at this late point of the season during these very important tournament games.”
The Knights were energized from the start vs. MKA (12-7) and constantly created opportunities on corners while holding a commanding 23-1 edge in that department.
Minnella scored her first goal on a shot in front with 11:30 still showing in the first quarter. She made it 2-0 with just 24 seconds left in the opening quarter and later tipped in a shot taken by junior Alex Agostin to make it 3-0 with 7:22 left in the third quarter before blasting in her fourth goal of the game with 12:51 left in the fourth quarter.
Junior Jillian Breslin made it 5-0 Knights with 6:08 remaining.
MKA did not have its first and only corner until there were less than three minutes remaining.
The Knights’ junior goalie Katie Moran was forced to make just three saves in the contest.
