Westfield was calling for a desperate overtime goal to put Union away, and senior Henry Iannuzzi answered. With a swift pass from senior Max Burrick, Iannuzzi fired a perfect ball to thread the needle past the Union goalie. In dramatic fashion, this goal would give Westfield the win 2-1, and advance them to the semifinals of the Union County Tournament.
When comparing records most would assume that Westfield, 11-1-3, would cruise past Union, 6-9, however at their last meeting the game ended in a similar style. The Blue Devils crawled back from after being down 2-0, to force an overtime. Who else other than Iannuzzi would be there to score the game-winning goal. This was his third overtime game-winner of the season, and second against the Farmers. He said, “I just love sending [Union] home.”
Besides the rivalry and high stakes, this game had some additional tension, as the Farmers arrived later than expected delaying the game by 20 minutes. Whether it was the delay throwing players off their game or the well-matched nature of this match-up, neither team were able to find the back of the net for the first 25 minutes. That was until Union struck the corner of the goal with an impressive shot from almost 25 yards out.
At this point Westifield was giving maximum effort and leaving it all out on the field. However, nothing was going their way including a handful of plays that they believed the refs did not properly address. Senior Billy Gerne said, “It’s definitely frustrating when you feel you’re being fouled but then you just have to run back on defense like nothing happened.”
The Union defense and specifically their goalie, were shutting down any opportunities for the Blue Devils. Nevertheless they showed no sign of giving up, and after a relentless effort, junior Sam Judka was able to bury one with 12 minutes left in the second half.
With the game tied up at 1-1, and less than 10 minutes left in the game, it seemed Westfield finally caught their break after being awarded a penalty kick. Even so, in classic Westfield versus Union fashion, the Farmer’s goalie was able to perfectly read the shot and make the save, sending the game to overtime.
Overtime was more of the same, doorstep saves and heavy drama. As the clock slowly creeped towards 0:00, Iannuzzi did what he does best. He said, “We practiced the day before from the corner where [Burrick] passed it to me and I just shot it far post and lucky shot, it went in.”
Head coach Eric Shaw said, “Once again we found Henry with composure to take it and bury a good opportunity.” The Blue Devils were very content with their win, however they don’t want to make overtime wins a habit. In the future to avoid such suspense, Shaw added, “Score earlier, score earlier, score earlier.”
The second seeded Blue Devils will take on the third seeded Elizabeth Minutemen on Saturday, at Arthur L. Johnson High School at 5:30 pm. It will be the semifinal of the UCT and the winner will play in the finals against the winner of Scotch Plains Fanwood and Oratory Prep.
