Shouts from teammates on both teams filled Warinanco Park Tuesday night in the second period as Westfield and Madison were in a scramble around Madison’s goal, Westfield unable to score, and Madison unable to clear the puck. In a quick second, Westfield’s Ella Delaney flicked the puck into the net for the first goal of the game, erupting their fans into cheers. However, their happiness only lasted a short time as Madison answered back in just over a swift 45 seconds, eventually securing their 7-1 win over the Blue Devils.
Throughout the first period, energy was high from both teams. Westfield’s defense shined, with limited playing time on their half of the ice. Though playing a mostly offensive period, the Blue Devils were unable to put the puck in the net. In the slight time Madison had possession, Westfield’s defense couldn’t keep up, as the period ended with a 2-0 lead for Madison.
The second period brought more hope to the team and Westfield fans, as the Blue Devils were able to maintain a strong defense and fight off Madison’s shooting attempts. Similar to their defense, Westfield’s offense began to create stronger plays and puck movement, allowing Westfield to score their first goal of the game with about four minutes left in the period. Madison’s lead was cut to one. Unfortunately, within seconds, Madison responded to Westfields goal by taking one for themselves. Putting another point on the scoreboard for Madison. Just when fans thought the period would conclude with a score of 3-1, off a breakaway with 54 seconds left in the period, Madison decided to finish it out strong by taking a quick goal to close out the second period. The score was 4-1 Madison.
With Westfield aware that they were well under Madison in the third period, the team tried to remain strong. Though the defense put up a tough fight in the first half of the period, it was not enough. With about 4 minutes left in the game, Madison scored 2 back-to-back goals and another 2 minutes later, bringing the score to 7-1. Both goals came in scrambles around the net. Each time the puck was not adequately covered, allowing for Madison to have an easy goal to the net.
Overall, though Westfield had lots of offensive opportunities, they were not able to score as much as they should have. Delaney said, “We all need to be more mentally prepared and all warm up as a team.” Adding on the topic of the team mentality, senior captain Emmy Wotanowski said, “We need to get a better mentality coming back from breaks.” Adding onto that, she said, “We have a hard time coming back from that because we don’t have practice together during our breaks.” Overall, the Blue Devils’ moments of high energy defense was not enough to combat their lack of clears from both skaters and the goalie. Head coach Matt Gualtieri had a different perspective of a game, saying, “We started to get too individualistic. We were down early, so I think sometimes people try to take it upon themselves to do more to get things done. And a lot of times less is more.”
The girls look to improve on all aspects of their faults from this game as they also look for their second win of the season today, as they play against Newark East Side at 5:15 p.m. at the Ironbound Recreation Center.
