In the first quarter, Summit was up 2-0, and hopes of a victory over the current New Jersey No. 1 looked bleak. However, in the first half of the second quarter, junior tri-captain Koby Waldman fired one in, making the score 2-1 and giving the Blue Devils a spark. Summit ended up scoring three more goals in the first half, and despite four more resilient goals from the Blue Devils, the Hilltoppers persevered 9-6, bringing Westfield’s record to 5-4 thus far.
Waldman and sophomore Patrick Smith had two goals each, with Waldman having one assist as well. Junior Harrison Rekemeier and sophomore Cooper Rosen each tallied a goal and an assist. Adding onto Westfield’s offensive effort, sophomore Brody Ferguson and junior Kieran Gerne both had one assist each. Junior goalie Tyson Varner also put in a strong effort for the Blue Devils, tallying six saves.
Senior Cooper Richman won 10 out of 19 face-offs, proving to be an asset to the team in their matchup versus the Hilltoppers. Head coach William Wertheimer said, “The performance from the face-off guys was the best I’ve seen from them this year.”
Westfield found themselves down by three goals at halftime, a deficit they looked to quickly erase. Wertheimer added, “I think the first half was a bit of a Shawnee hangover. After a good game against them, we started pointing out some of the things we needed to fix and adjust. They started to do that in the third quarter.”
The Blue Devils controlled the first faceoff, and Waldman was able to capitalize, tallying his second goal of the game within 30 seconds. Rekemeier scored soon after for Westfield, but the run was quickly stopped by the Hilltoppers, as they answered with a goal of their own to end the third quarter 4-6. Waldman said, “We came out of halftime motivated to go on a quick run. We did that, but didn’t hold momentum for long enough and it showed in the final score.”
“We rallied together today against a very competitive team. Once we saw one shot go, we had more confidence to keep shooting,” said Smith. “We came out extremely slow down 5-1, so moving forward, we need to come out with more confidence and energy.”
The Blue Devils will look to come back from a hard-fought loss on Saturday, where they will play Ridgewood at 11:00 a.m. Kehler.
