As junior tri-Captain Koby Waldman dodged past a defender with a quick spin move, the crowd fired up with energy, bringing excitement to the sideline. Waldman proceeded to tally his fifth goal of the game to cut Westfield’s deficit to just one goal. The game was a back and forth offensive battle, but the Blue Devils ultimately fell to the Chatham Cougars 9-12.
Early on in the game, the Blue Devils had trouble finding their momentum. Down 4-0 after an explosive start from the Cougars, the game threatened a lopsided finish.
Going into the second quarter, the Blue Devils started with possession. Two minutes in, sophomore Casey Gilford, in his first varsity game, got a goal with a sweet behind the back finish on a man up opportunity.
The goal sparked momentum for the Blue Devils as they responded with two more goals, one from sophomore Brody Ferguson and another from Waldman.
“Everyone around me set good picks, getting switches, working off the ball, creating space for me,” said Waldman.
The rest of the quarter went back and forth but eventually ended with the Cougars leading 6-5, setting up an intense second half.
As the second half began, the Blue Devils knew they would need to get out to an early start. Instead, Chatham proceeded to put two more goals away and led 8-5 early on in the third quarter.
While the Blue Devils were never leading on the score board, they were able to tie the game in the fourth quarter 9-9, as Waldman would explode for another two goals.
The intensity of the fourth quarter showed how badly each team wanted to win this opening game. With the end of the game looming, senior captain and Michigan commit Shep Boyd picked up a ground ball and diced through to field to fire it past the Westfield goalie.
Westfield would still have opportunities to tie it, but missed chances saw that hope slip away. Chatham would go on to score two more goals in the final two minutes to close the game 12-9.
Despite the loss, Westfield continued to fight back, keeping the game close, showing they can compete. Head coach William Werthimer said, “We performed great. We showed grit, and that we could compete with a top public school in the state like Chatham”
The Blue Devils are keeping a positive mindset going into Saturday’s game at 11 a.m. against Scotch Plains Fanwood, at home. Senior tri-captain Ben Seward said, “We’re just gonna flush this loss. We know that SPF is definitely gonna be a worse team, but we’re gonna have to hit the drawing board and just practice and get better.”
