IN THE NEWS: Mount Soccer Team Benefits From Strong Defense

Published in The Progress October 9, 2019

CALDWELL - The Mount St. Dominic Academy soccer team has a 8-3 record and is seeded fourth in the upcoming Essex County Tournament.

The Lions will take on the winner of No. 20 East Orange and No. 13 Bloomfield in the first round Thursday, Oct. 10.

“We are happy with the fourth seed. We feel we deserve it with a record of 8-3,” said head coach Angelo Del Vecchio. “To advance in the tournament, we need to continue to play good defense. There are so many good teams in our county. The team that scores timely goals will probably advance; therefore, we need to score those important goals.”

Del Vecchio said much of the team’s success so far this season is thanks to its defense.

“We have only given up six goals in 11 games,” he said. “The strength of our team is our team defense. Our back line is the backbone of that defense. It consists of our starting back line Brynn Caufield '21, Riley Durborow '20, Courtney Hospes '20, Alyssa Mastando '20 and Isabella Mangili '21, who has contributed major minutes.”

A few players have been leading the team on offense.

“We have received timely goal-scoring and play-making from Dominique Bavacqua '20, Clare Mulvihill '21 and Megan Robinson '20,” he said.

The Lions opened the season with four straight victories: over Nutley, 1-0, on Sept. 5; Montclair Kimberley Academy, 2-1, on Sept. 7; Caldwell, 3-0, on Sept. 10; and Glen Ridge, 1-0, on Sept. 13. Other victories have been over Newark East Side, 7-0, on Sept. 19; Caldwell, 4-0, on Sept. 21; Bloomfield, 3-0, on Sept. 27; and Morris Catholic, 3-0, on Saturday, Oct. 5.

“The season so far has been great,” Del Vecchio said. “The team has been playing well. All our games are hard-fought since we face very competitive opposition. All the seniors have shown great leadership on and off the field.”

Some highlights of the season so far include overtime victories over Nutley and Montclair Kimberley at the beginning of the season, he said.

“We also had a hard-fought 1-0 win against an always tough Glen Ridge team. Even though we lost 2-1 in overtime to Montclair, who is the No. 1 team in our county and No. 3 in the state, the girls played well, and I was very proud of their effort.”

Other losses have been to West Orange, 1-0, on Sept. 16 and Livingston, 2-0, on Sept. 24.

The Lions were set to take on Paramus Catholic on Tuesday, Oct. 8. They are scheduled to play Columbia on Monday, Oct. 21 and West Essex on Wednesday, Oct. 23 in regular-season action.