Oak Knoll Adds Win Against West Essex

When Oak Knoll’s Maddie Smith saw the opportunity, she pounced. Smith, a junior midfielder, scored off a rebound off an initial shot by Ryan McCarthy midway through the first half to give Oak Knoll a two-goal lead and the Summit school ended up posting a 3-1 victory over visiting West Essex of North Caldwell Thursday afternoon at Oak Knoll’s Athletic Field in Chatham. Oak Knoll improved to 12-0 this fall while West Essex (12-1) suffered its first loss of the season. The schools entered the game ranked first and third by The Star-Ledger this past week.Smith, who now has six goals this year, was positioned just to the left of the West Essex goal cage and, after McCarthy'sshot was deflected by goalie Melissa Laible, she calmly corralled the ball and flicked it into the upper portion of the net to give Oak Knoll a 2-0 lead with 15:03 remaining before intermission. Oak Knoll, which has now won 39 straight games, opened the scoring as Elizabeth Jacobson fed Teresa Benvenuti for her team-leading 20th goal just 8:51 into the game.West Essex, which will play Montclair for the Essex County Tournament championship on Saturday, cut its deficit to 2-1 when Alex Miller connected of an assist from Adrianna Farina with 11:42 remaining. Led by Jacobson, who scored the final goal of the game in the second half, and the goal-tending of Maggie Blackwood, Oak Knoll was able to solidify its position as the No. 1 team in the state. Amid a series of great saves by Blackwood, who finished with 12, Blackwood pushed Oak Knoll’s lead back to two when she scored unassisted off a blast from 12 yards out with 11:48 remaining in the second half. “After they scored, we knew it was really important for us to come back and answer,” said Jacobson, who now has five goals and 12 assists on the year. “I saw that the shot was there and just took it.” Oak Knoll captured its fourth Group 1 title in five years and first-ever Tournament of Champions crown in 2010, and has so far defeated state powers, Shawnee, Bridgewater-Raritan, Johnson and now West Essex this season. “It can only help us when you play those really good teams,” said Blackwood. “Today was one of the biggest games of the year for us, so it was good that we came out on top,”While McCarthy (10 goals, six assists) didn’t find the back of the net yesterday, the sophomore midfielder was a constant thorn to West Essex, using her speed and skill to constantly thwart scoring chances before they developed.And Blackwood did the rest, playing one of her best games of the season. Early in the second half it looked like West Essex had the better of play, and leading scorer Natalie Cafone (26 goals, 17 assists) came flying in from the right side, but Blackwood was able to make two saves on two shots before knocking the ball away. “We make sure Maggie faces a lot of hard shots in practice,” said Jacobson. ”She gets the best from Ryan, Teresa, Maddie and myself.”If each team wins its respective NJSIAA Group championships in mid-November, it’s possible these schools could meet again during the Tournament of Champions. Since West Essex defeated Oak Knoll in the semis of the T of C in 2006, the two have met every year in the regular season. The result was a tie in 2007, ’08 and ’09 before Oak Knoll broke through with a 3-2 overtime decision last year on its way to a perfect 27-0 campaign.Oak Knoll, will now turn its attention to the upcoming Union County Tournament, where it earned the top seed and will seek its second straight championship later this month. OAK KNOLL FIELD HOCKEY 2011 Sept.  13: at Newark Academy (W, 6-0) Sept.  16: vs. Glen Ridge (W, 5-0) Sept. 20: at Millburn (W, 5-0) Sept.  22: vs. Mount St. Dominic (W, 11-0) Sept. 26: vs. Shawnee (W, 5-1) Sept. 27: at Kent Place (W, 6-0) Oct. 1: at Bridgewater (W, 3-2) Oct. 3: vs. Columbia (9-0) Oct. 4: vs. Westfield (6-0)Oct. 6: at Johnson (W, 5-0) Oct. 8: vs. Cranford (W, 8-0) Oct. 13: vs. West Essex (W, 3-1) Oct. 18: at Montclair, 4 p.m. Oct. 20: at Union, 4 p.m. Oct. 22: UCT semifinal, TBA Oct. 25: vs. MKA, 4 p.m. Oct. 27: vs. Gov. Livingston, 4 p.m.