Under a full moon at Shimme Wexler Field, and in front of two clashing student sections, Westfield hoped to redeem their loss in the Union County Tournament final in a rematch against Scotch Plains-Fanwood for the North 2, Group 4 sectional final. Westfield students were loyally entertaining the predetermined jersey-theme, and the SPF students enjoyed their mundane black-out theme as chants were screamed and cheers were roared.
Despite a strong defensive first half, Westfield lost 3-0, ending their season in heartbreak. The early stages of the game were back-and-forth with senior co-captain Ethan Wade and senior Jake Pardes having an excellent defensive performance that largely kept the ball on SPF’s side of the field and their offense at bay.
However, Westfield was unable to capitalize from their defensive toughness. One prominent example being an offsides call canceling what would have been a goal from senior Dan DeSousa seven minutes into the game.
Despite having many shots on goal, the Raiders found themselves unable to score in the first half due to many missed shots, and saves by junior goalie Simon Gunzberg, including a crucial stop in the final seconds of the first half.
The second half started to a completely different tune: the ring of a crossbar, as Westfield narrowly avoided a goal by star junior Jayvon Young from halfway across the field in the very first second of the half. Although the initial stages of the half were similar to the first, with neither team finding their way into the net, that all changed with a logic-defying corner kick goal by SPF senior Luca Passucci to put the first point on the scoreboard.
“They got a free goal and free goals are gonna happen,” Wade said, “we did need to change [our defensive set up,] but evidently our change didn’t work out.”
Passucci’s goal quite literally opened up the floodgates for the Raiders, as the fence separating SPF’s student section from the field fell down following the goal. The SPF students, decked out in a black-out theme, rushed to celebrate, causing a temporary stop to the game as the SPF athletic department rushed to bring the fence back up.
Westfield head coach Eric Shaw said that following the goal the team’s mindset was “trying to get the tie, but before we got that, we gave up a second goal. From there, we are still chasing. We’re always chasing from when you give up that first goal on.”
The Blue Devils struggled to try and tie the game up due to a reignited SPF defense. Senior co-captain Niko Pierce said, “They sit five across the back so it’s a very defensive structure they have.”
SPF was able to find more offensive success as the half continued. This time, Young was able to get past the Westfield defense and score two goals within 20 seconds of each other, pushing the Scotch Plains lead to 3-0, ultimately putting the game out of reach for Westfield. Despite the 15 minutes remaining in the game, the prevailing sight was many students wearing jerseys leaving the Westfield student section.
Reflecting on the end of the season, Pierce said “I’m very pleased with the boys. I can’t ask them to do anything more. They had a fantastic season. They worked real hard. You know, this is one of the hardest working groups of boys I’ve ever been with. I’m very proud of them. I think they accomplished a lot and I can’t ask for anything more.”
