A chill fell over Gumpert Park ice rink as Westfield exited the ice, defeated.
The 3-0 loss against Chatham yesterday marked Westfields first game, and first loss, of their season. Some might say the outcome is a result from losing a handful of seniors from last year who made up the majority of their starting lineup. Senior captain Emmy Wotanowski said, “I think it was very difficult considering we lost about 15 of them. And we didn’t have a lot of new girls coming up that were at our level. But, for our first game, I feel like we did pretty good considering we’re a brand new team.”
This first matchup was an out of conference game for the Blue Devils. That means this game will not count toward their end of season record for the third division. This can be considered a good thing, since head coach Matt Gualtieri said, “Our goal is to win our division and move up to play in the league that Chatham is in.”
Despite losing 3-0, Westfield put up a fight. Their offense attempted many breakaways, and goalie Jolie Bruder recorded many impressive saves that prevented Chatham from going up any further. However, Westfield’s pass and shot selection was subpar compared to the Cougars. Wotanowski said, “Considering it was our first game, we’re still figuring out positionings and our chemistry together. So, as practice goes on, and games go on, I feel like we’ll be able to work better together after learning each other’s skills.”
The Blue Devils were able to contain Chatham’s offense for most of the first period, but fell short with five minutes left by letting a slap shot into the net which created a 1-0 lead for Chatham. A few minutes later, the Blue Devils got extremely lucky when Chatham had a breakaway into a shot on goal, but the play resulted in a penalty that did not count on the scoreboard. Because of this, going into the next period, the Blue Devils were only down one and had the opportunity to redeem themselves.
During the second and third periods, the teams played a familiar game. With a battle in possessions, both teams held their own for the majority of the second period. However, with about seven minutes remaining in the second period, with speed down the ice and a sturdy shot, Chatham scored once again. Going into the third, intensity increased. Both teams were amped up – smacking the ice with their sticks, slamming into the walls, fighting for their lives for possession. With a quick steal from Chatham on Westfield’s offensive end with two minutes left, Chatham rushed down the ice. They baited Bruder to the right and shot to the left side of the goal, securing their 3-0 win against the Blue Devils.
At the end of the game, Gualtieri said, “After playing against a good team like this, it gives us an opportunity to see the things that we need to work on. Now that we see what the team looks like, we have an opportunity now to focus on some defensive zone stuff, like some positioning things and just some skill things, that we lacked today and that we can just get better at.”
Westfield will have over a week for practice and development before they take on Summit at Warinanco Park on Dec. 20, hoping to come out with their first win of the season.
