Veteran coach Jill Cosse guides the West Essex Lady Knights who are once again the team to beat in the Essex County Tournament, while the Montclair Mounties feature standouts such as Ceci Cowart, who is seen preparing to hit the ball as MKA's Sydney Fradette (10) closes in. West Essex is again No. 1 seed in ECT. (Photos by Rick Osterberg and SC)

No. 1 West Essex Remains The Team To Beat In ECT

By Steve Tober for sidelinechatter.com

Veteran West Essex coach Jill Cosse always makes it a point to put together an auspicious non-conference schedule for her Lady Knights and this season has been no different as the No. 1 ranked field hockey team has taken on a number of out-of-state powers including Hill (Pa.) which edged the Essex County school, 1-0, on Oct. 2nd.

Games like that, in addition to taking on both Notre Dame de Namur (Pa.) and New Tier Winnetka (Ill.) in the early-season Max Field Hockey Invitational at the Proving Grounds in Conshohocken, Pa. are the type of competitive matches that prepare the North Caldwell regional high school for what awaits in mid- to late-October when county and state tournament action takes precedence.

West Essex (12-2) still has local rival Montclair (Oct. 16 at Watchung Field), Kingsway (Oct. 29) and Camden Catholic (Nov. 2) on its upcoming slate of formidable New Jersey foes, while also preparing to aim for a 13th straight Essex County Tournament title.

The Knights are once again the No. 1 seed in the ECT which has a 10-team field and will get underway with preliminary round action on Thursday, Oct. 17, followed by the first round, Oct. 19, quarterfinals, Oct. 21, and semifinals, Oct. 23, all at the higher-seeded team’s home field.

The top four seeds: 1-West Essex, 2-Montclair, 3-Livingston and 4-Montclair Kimberley Academy all received byes into the quarterfinals.

No. 14-ranked Montclair (10-1) fell to the Lady Knights, 5-1, in the 2023 ECT final and are the favorites to return to another championship matchup with West Essex 1 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 26, at West Essex’s home Travis Field in North Caldwell.

Livingston owns a regular season win vs. MKA, while the Cougars, coached by ECT director Injoo Han, gave Montclair all it could handle in a recent match before the Mounties earned a 2-1 overtime victory.

West Essex has a nice mix of youth and experience with the upper classmen led by the likes of senior midfielder Sophia Sisco (15 goals, 30 assists), junior Adelkaide Minnella (27 goals and 23 assists) and Dartmouth-bound senior back Ava Russo.

Sophomore Katie Moran, who had 10 saves in an impressive 3-0 triumph over No. 3 ranked Oak Knoll on Wednesday, Oct. 9, has been a pleasant addition to the starting lineup this fall for West Essex. She stopped a point blank stop of a penalty stroke fired by Oak Knoll’s Lilly Venezia in the much-anticipated in-state contest.

Sophomore Julia Conforti (13 goals, 6 assists) is another young standout to watch for Cosse’s perennial county and Group 2 state title contender.

Veteran Montclair coach Mary Pat Mercuro has another team to watch in the Group 4 state tourney picture.

Junior Ceci Cowart excels all over the field for the Mounties as either a forward or midfielder and is a national-level player as a member of the U.S. Under-16 Olympic team.

Sophomore Caitlin Gorman, another versatile forward-midfielder, is one of the accomplished club players on the Montclair squad.

Eliza Larson is superb at scoring in big moments, as she did in OT to defeat MKA; or setting up teammates with her double-figure assist total this fall.

Another strongpoint for the Mounties is their defense with veteran performers such as seniors Reese Festa and Lily Donohue and junior Layla Anderson, who all provide a strong backbone of resistance in front of steady senior goalie Charlotte Andes.

MKA, which competes in a difficult Non-Public state bracket that features Oak Knoll, is led by standouts including veteran seniors led by goalie Malia Cesareo, Sam Siter and Sydney Fradette, juniors Addie Goldstein, Julia Flocco and twin sisters Shea  and Maggie Murphy and sophomore Eva Sieger.            

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Jill Cosse is the longtime coach for West Essex which is once again the favorite to win the Essex County Tourament and Group 2 state titles in 2024. In bottom photo, Montclair's Aven Hodgson (11) and MKA's Shea Muprhy battle for control of ball. ECT final is Oct. 26th at West Essex.

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