Montclair High School’s Boys Soccer Team finished the 2023 season with an impressive 13-4-3 record and captured their first division title since 2020. According to Coach Toure Weaver, his team was not on anyone’s radar. Weaver felt that his guys had the tools to bring home multiple pieces of hardware. They kicked off the season with a convincing 5-0 road win over Millburn. Juniors Julian Cauvin and Cole Caviness notched two goals each. Next, they grabbed back-to-back wins against South Plainfield and West Essex enroute to their biggest matchup of the season. That game would pit the Mounties against Seton Hall Prep, who was ranked number 2 in the state at the time.
Montclair battled hard in this game and forced it to overtime. One goal would secure the win against the highly touted Seton Hall Prep team. Julian Cauvin stepped up and provided that goal with a beautiful left-footed shot from outside the box. This win put Montclair on everyone’s radar for the rest of the season, and they stepped up to the challenge and didn’t seem to feel any pressure at all. Montclair went on a 7-game unbeaten streak following the Seton Hall game. This streak included 3 straight ties, and 4 straight wins. Two of these wins were against top seeds in Livingston and Newark East Side. During the course of this streak, Montclair climbed to number 5 in NJ.com state rankings.
Montclair suffered the first loss of the season against Newark Academy at home. Many people thought this loss would spell the end of their amazing run, but it didn’t. With the Essex County Tournament on the horizon, the number 1 seeded Mounties had their eyes on the Super Essex Conference trophy, and the second title of the season. After a convincing 5-1 win against West Essex, Montclair shut out Bloomfield 4-0, setting up a semi-final matchup against cross-town rivals MKA. After a tie in their previous matchup, it was expected to be a great game. Montclair dominated the game as they created chance after chance, and they eventually scored 2 of them to advance to the ECT Final against Seton Hall Prep.
Seton Hall Prep was hungry for revenge after their loss to Montclair earlier in the season, but Montclair struck first, as Erol Gumus scored on an incredible volley off of a long throw-in. After halftime the game remained tight, but Seton Hall controlled possession and the momentum, and ended up scoring two goals to win the game. While it was a tough loss, Montclair still had hope, as the 2 seed in the upcoming NJSIAA Group 4 tournament. They had a first-round matchup against Columbia, whom they had previously beaten 3-1. Unfazed by their previous loss, Columbia jumped ahead 3-1. With 26 minutes left in the game, Montclair was once again forced to come up big in the waning minutes of a crucial game. Montclair refused to give up, and scored 3 unanswered goals to secure a 4-3 victory and a trip to the next round.
This win set up a quarterfinal matchup against Livingston, who they had previously defeated 1-0. However, this time Montclair was missing two key leaders; senior co-captains, Tomer Salamon and Jake Bernstein. Montclair controlled a decent amount of possession, but it didn’t lead to many chances on offense. Livingston, on the other hand, scored 3 goals in quick succession, giving them a 3-0 victory and a trip to the semifinals. Although this was a disappointing ending, it was a successful season on many levels. The team showed a massive improvement from last year, with 13 wins, a number 5 state ranking, an American Division Title, a number 1 seed in the Essex County Tournament, a number 2 seed in the NJSIAA Tournament and post-season honors for several players.. With a solid crop of returners, Montclair should be in the hunt for more hardware and should certainly attract more radar.