Intensity built up as the time slowly ticked down in the first overtime. After 88 minutes of even possession and nearly missed goal opportunities, junior Alex Rokshar faked out two Scotch Plains-Fanwood defenders leaving an open gap for senior Henry Iannuzzi. Iannuzzi took one touch then curled a lefty shot soaring over the goalie and landing perfectly in the bottom left corner. The Blue Devils beat undefeated rival SPF in overtime, prompting a rush to the corner flag and a colossal celebration.
Coming into this matchup, Westfield was ranked at No.18 and SPF was ranked No.5. “We knew that [SPF] was undefeated coming here so that was a little chip on our shoulder, to give them their first loss, a little extra motivation,” said head coach Eric Shaw.
Immediately after the whistle blew, signaling the start of the contest, SPF put high pressure on the Blue Devils defense. Angst grew in Kehler stadium as the Raiders ripped shot after shot. Westfield quickly put an end to their reign and matched their intensity and skill.
Westfield was able to contain SPF and their aggressive offense for 80 minutes straight. Junior goalie, Simon Gunzberg, who had crucial saves throughout the entire game credited his defense saying, “[Their forward] is probably one of the hardest in the state to contain so the fact that they could contain him the whole game and limit those chances really helped me out.”
This season, the Blue Devils have dealt with a constant recurrence of overtime as their past three games ended in overtime. Being put into a high stakes situation that involves a golden goal, adds a significant amount of pressure. Gunzberg reminds himself that these overtime and rivalry games are, “what we have played for since we were kids so I’m happy to be in that spot.”
Shaw said, “We changed a little bit in the overtime, we asked our players to be more direct serving the balls up top, which puts [SPF] under pressure. We are creating chances in the way we are playing, but we are comfortable with the way we play so we don’t want to change too much.”
Senior Jake Pardes said, “We’re going to use this to keep moving up the rankings and win counties and then ultimately win states.” Iannuzzi echoed this saying “it shows us that we’re as good as we think we are. We went up against 10-0 Scotch Plains and we beat them so it just sets the tone.”
Looking ahead, the Blue Devils are back in action on Thursday away at 4:30 p.m. vs Lawrenceville, looking to continue their winning streak.
