Tension hung thick in the air. The chilly October wind had Westfield fans clutching their jackets tighter as they watched the Blue Devils battle for a final victory of their regular season against Cranford. Unfortunately, the squad could not capitalize on their chances and their final push fell short in a narrow 1-0 defeat.
Throughout the first half, the Blue Devils battled back and forth, looking to put the ball in the back of the net, but their efforts were unsuccessful. Head coach Eric Shaw said, “We weren’t competitive enough. At the same time, we created a couple of chances early on that if we scored, it’s a different complexion of the game.”
Later in the first half, Cranford received a red card, leaving 10 players on the field. Still, Westfield was not able to take advantage. Senior co-captain Alex Rokhsar said, “Today, we couldn’t execute our chances. In the first half, we let them kind of settle in, even when they were a man down.”
Cranford was successful in taking up an opportunity to score early in the second half, leaving the Blue Devils fighting to tie up the game for the rest of the match. “We ended up letting up a goal, and we still struggled in front of that. I think that’s kind of how we ended off today,” Rokhsar said.
After a rough patch in the middle of the season, the team had a three-game winning streak. Now aiming for a county title, senior Cooper Richman said, “It’s a total switch around. We’ve done it before. It’s not the first time we’ve had a bad game and then bounced back. We have three more practices left.”
Instead of taking this loss as a setback, the Blue Devils will use it to move forward and learn from their mistakes. Shaw said, “We’re trying to leave this [behind]. It doesn’t mean anything outside of the loss on our record.”
Even with their loss against Cranford, Westfield is only looking forward. They will continue their counties run in the final on Saturday against rival Scotch Plains-Fanwood at ALJ, taking the field at 7:30 p.m.. Rokhsar said, “Against SPF, they’re always a good team, and so we’re just gonna have to get some balls in the back of the net and take care of our chances and really execute. And if we don’t, we’re gonna struggle again.”
