A gray sky covered Gary Kehler Stadium on Monday as field hockey lost gloomily to West Essex, the reigning state champions. Westfield’s defense desperately tried to hold off West Essex’s explosive offense throughout the game. The Knights were familiar with the back of Westfield’s goal and the Blue Devils offense couldn’t capitalize, leading to a final score of 8-0.
While the scoreboard showed much stronger performance from the Knights over the Blue Devils, Westfield put their best foot forward in trying to hold off West Essex as best as they could. Head coach Corrine Varhley said, “Defense did a great job keeping the ball out as best they could.”
Senior Chloe Martin and senior goalie Haley Berger were integral to the back line. Martin had two defensive blocks and Berger had 14 saves. Varhley said, “They were really nice saves and you could hear the boom of the ball hitting Haley’s pads, so she saved some really hard shots today.”
West Essex had an enormous number of corners. Due to the fact that Westfield could not keep up with their opponents, it made it easier for the Knights to continue getting those corner plays. Martin said, “West Essex knows to get more corners by hitting our feet.” Despite the amount of pressure from the set plays, the defense did their best to make sure most of them were not successful.
Westfield knew this game would be no easy feat, as West Essex was named fourth in Max Field Hockey’s 2025 High School Preseason National Top 25 Rankings. Berger was well aware that this would be a tricky game, but came in with a steady head. She said, “ I just came in with a mindset that even if they do score, I can’t let that get to my head because every play is a new game. I don’t want to let one goal ruin the rest of the game.”
There are many improvements the Blue Devils hope to make heading into their next game. “I think if we can just continue to try and work on protecting our feet and staying very composed, that will help us,” Martin said.
Even with the tough loss, the Blue Devils hope to bounce back with an away game at East Brunswick at 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday.
