With just seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, senior quad-captain Colin Coyle, finds Washington and Lee commit Garrett Ferguson right in front of the net where he put away his seventh goal of the game.
“You can’t complain about having Garrett on your team. He gets the job done every time,” said senior quad-captain and goalie Corey Gilford. Westfield dominated Christian Brothers Academy, 13-6, in their home opener behind an outstanding performance from Ferguson.
The Blue Devils came out hot and heavy, scoring the first two goals early in the first quarter; however, they couldn’t count CBA out yet. A couple minutes later, CBA was able to find holes in the Blue Devils’ defense and rattle off three quick goals, putting the Blue Devils down 2-3.
However, Westfield responded quickly with two goals from Ferguson to close out the first quarter. “The offense was just buying in and being patient. We just held it, waited for smart shots and then we finished. That was the key,” said head coach William Wertheimer.
As the game progressed, Westfield started to play very confidently and settle into the game. The offense began finding each other easily and firing shots on goal was simple. Similar to last year’s team, the Blue Devils has an unbelievable level of chemistry, which makes finding each other on offense that much easier. Ferguson said, “We’ve been playing together for a while, so we know each other’s tendencies and where everyone is going to be on the field.”
While the offense was succeeding in putting points on the board, the defense was locking down and letting no one past them, even with the challenge at hand. “CBA has a long pole midfielder who is committed to Harvard, and he’s on the U20 team, and we sort of planned our defense around him,” said Wertheimer.
The Blue Devils succeeded in this greatly, holding CBA to just two goals in the second half. Gilford said, “The defense did a great job of forcing low shots, giving me easy saves to make.”
The Blue Devils are back in action this Saturday at Gary Kehler Stadium at 11 a.m. against Ridge. Wertheimer said, “Ridge typically has a very zone-heavy defense, so going into practice, we will change our offense into man, get reps, and hopefully find success.”
