Livingston & Verona Earn Trips
To Sunday's Soccer State Finals

Livingston will return to its first Group 4 state final in 15 years and Verona will make a first-ever appearance in the Group 1 championship game as both Essex County teams advanced to Sunday’s group state finals at Franklin High School with state semifinal victories on Wednesday.

The 17th-ranked Lancers (19-3-1), who have overcome numerous injuries to key players, rode junior Emily Fernandes’ goal early in the second half along with a stellar defensive effort to upset fourth-ranked Westfield, 1-0, while also snapping the Blue Devils’ 33-game winning streak.   

Livingston will next face South Jersey champion Cherokee, a 1-0 winner over Freehold Township, in the Group 4 state final at 3 p.m., Sunday, in Franklin. The Lancers had reached their only other state final in 2010 when current assistant coach Kate Schwindel was an all-state performer for the Essex County squad.  

Coach Teddy Nizolek’s red-hot Hillbillies (18-4) defeated Pequannock, 2-1, in Verona, on Emerson Garrett’s second half goal which broke up a defensive stalemate against the Golden Panthers (20-3-1).

Verona will take on Shore Regional, which survived a 7-6 penalty kick shootout after being deadlocked 0-0 through 100 minutes vs. Haddon Township, in the 5:30 p.m. overall Group 1 final on Sunday 20 minutes following the Livingston-Cherokee match.

Livingston handed the highly-touted Blue Devils (18-1) their first loss in 34 games when Fernandes scored in the 49th minute off a nice feed from senior teammate Dina Bojkovic, who had received a pass 40 yards out and then connected with Fernades who buried a shot to the far post from 18 yards out for her 15th goal of the season.

Livingston, which had a key save from goalkeeper Ayla Sherman in the 71st minute, received strong work in the back from defenders Daisey Cheng, Chloe Wright, Zoe Nightingale and Arian Levitsky.

The Lancers have overcome an assortment of injuries this season which began to sideline key players last summer including Group 4 all-stater Izzy Kilelee (Wagner College commit) and defender Casey Conklin (Ohio State for women’s lacrosse), who both absorbed knee injuries.

All-Super Essex Conference-American Division center midfielder Hunter Lantzman was lost for the remainder of the season just before the Essex County Tournament final when the Lancers fell to top-seeded Mount St. Dominic in the championship game at Allen ‘Jake’ Jacobson Memorial Field.

Still, the Lancers have persevered with standouts such as the Rutgers-bound Bojkovic and Fernandes continuing to do the job up top and defenders like Cheng, who moved from center midfield to the back to solidify that unit of resistance, all shining for veteran coach Brian Carr’s talented and resilient soccer side.

Verona, which defeated longtime Essex County rival Glen Ridge in the North 2, Group 1 state sectional final, is a young squad which has matured quickly behind the superb guidance of Nizolek and his coaching staff, and the ‘Billies have continued to come up with key goals, such as Garrett’s game-winner off a feed from Emma Smith to defeat a strong Pequannock team which had advanced to the Group 1 semis by virtue of a decisive 4-0 win over Midland Park in the N1G1 state sectional final.