600th Win For West Essex Coach
As Knights Take Group 2 Crown

It was just moments after her team had captured a 14th straight Essex County Tournament and 19th in the 21-year history of the event and West Essex coach Jill Cosse smiled and was rather direct when asked if she might be nearing the end of her incredible journey as the Knights’ longtime field hockey coach.

“How could I leave these kids and this great program at this point?” she responded. “We have such a talented, young team and I’m still enjoying this so much!

“I have no plans on stepping aside!”

Well, just a month later one of the deans of New Jersey high school field hockey is enjoying having recently guided her Knights to their 16th group state championship in her 29th season at the helm along with having become just the fourth member of the 600-win club as her team roared to a 2-0 win over Point Pleasant Boro, Nov. 15, in Bordentown for a seventh straight Group 2 state title.

Cosse (600-l57-14) is in elite company headed by three retired coaches headed by Shore Regional’s legendary Nancy Williams (839-67-55 from 1971 to 2014), Ann Marie Davies of Madison (632 wins from 1982-2018) and 3-Claudia McCarthy of Millville (610-238-21 from 1971-2020).

The most noteworthy aspect of the West Essex field hockey legacy is that just two coaches have guided the program in its 68-year history of the sport which began at the varsity level in 1967 after the school had opened in the fall of 1961.

The coach who was the trailblazer of the program is Linda Alimi, who is still going strong in her senior citizen years and has always helped in a number of ways in promoting field hockey statewide and in Essex County.

She put together a superb 457-55-44 record for 30 seasons from 1967 to 1996 before Cosse, a former standout at Wall Township and The College of New Jersey, stepped into the role of leading the West Essex field hockey program which has never lost a beat.

“Coach Alimi has always been an amazing person and a coach I respect so much,” said Cosse. “It’s been an honor to follow her as coach at a school we both love!”

The Lady Knights have also won 23 state titles overall, and the North Caldwell-based regional high school now stands just one state crowns behind perennial South Jersey power Eastern.

The Lady Knights’ longtime head mentor passed by her own, former high school coach Nancy Gross of Wall Township (576-217-22 from 1971-2017) last fall to move into the fourth spot overall.

West Essex defeated Point Pleasant Boro, 2-0, for the 2024 Group 2 state title and also played perhaps the state’s toughest independent schedule last fall while facing eight nationally-ranked teams during the 2024 campaign while finishing 5-3 in those tests against elite-level opponents.

West Essex lost to in-state opponent Oak Knoll, 2-1 back on Oct. 7, while continuing to play a first-rate independent schedule again this season, including against an elite group of teams that included two Pennsylvania powers it lost to earlier this season in Villa Maria Academy and the Hill School.

“You can draw comparison to where you are by playing the best in the country,” said Cosse. “The rigors of that type of schedule can either break you or it will make you earn success at the end of the season.”

And, the Knights have reaped the benefits of that rigorous slate of foes once again with yet another state title while their coach continues to rack up more victories as a stellar career continues and the team’s quality never lets up.

This season’s team had just one senior Adelaide “Adie” Minnella, who is the daughter of Coach Cosse and her husband, retired West Essex Athletic Director Anthony Minnella.

Adie is headed to Villanova where her older sister Evangeline, a 2024 graduate, is also continuing her college field hockey career.

When the Knights captured their latest ECT title, Adie scored four goals, including the 146th of her stellar scholastic career at the time, while also already setting new school records for assists and points while leading the top-seeded Knights to a 5-0 victory over third-seeded Montclair Kimberley Academy.

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 with her 103rd, a mark that had been set just last fall by Sophia Sisco. Minnella also surpassed the prior top school point total of 354 which had been established by Natalie Cafone in 2011.

In watching her daughter achieve a historic moment with the new school scoring record was certainly a huge moment for the veteran West Essex mentor, who has to constantly balance her dual roles as both coach and mom.

“It’s hard sometimes because I have to always be aware of the entire team, but I also know that I want Adie to be able to enjoy the success she has achieved while always helping our team win,” continued Cosse. “She has always come to play hard, and she has a keen sense of awareness in that circle.

“She is very smart and savvy on her shot selection.”

Next season will mark the first time in seven years that Cosse won’t be coaching a Minnella in the program and while the daughters continue to contribute on the college level at Villanova mom will keep leading the juggernaut of a high school program that is West Essex field hockey.