On Oct. 26, Westfield suffered a devastating but expected loss against Old Bridge in the North 2, Group 4 sectional first round to end their 2023-24 season. Westfield finished with a 6-12 record after having a 12-8-1 record the season prior. The Blue Devils placed 16th out of 20 teams overall in the Essex/Union County standings and 6th out of 7 teams in the White Division.
Head coach Corinne Varhley said, “While this season may not have finished as well as we originally intended, we still persevered and strived to do better each and every game.”
After losing seven seniors from the 2023 graduating class, the team this year consisted seven sophomores, six juniors and six seniors. The three senior captains – midfielder Katie Walsh, goalie Maddie Caherly and defender Erin Doherty – were leaders on and off the field, all contributing greatly to Westfield’s starting lineup while also keeping morale high.
The Blue Devils kicked off their season with a win against Wallkill Valley, 3-1, but to follow came a three-game consecutive losing streak. Although Westfield had lost these games, they were close, competitive matchups: all three games were lost by a score of one goal. One of these games included a home loss against Glen Ridge which ended with a controversial call.
Westfield ended this losing streak with two back-to-back wins; one was against Cranford where they destroyed the Cougars, 6-0. However, the next three matchups resulted in three losses. It seemed as though the theme for the Blue Devils this season was to win one, lose three, which ultimately led to their losing record. Caherly said, “I definitely think there was a lot of trial and error.”
Even with their many losses, the team was still motivated to perform competitively throughout the season. In a close matchup against Livingston, Westfield won the game, 2-1, on a golden goal by sophomore forward Kayla Reyes in a sudden-death overtime.
Despite their record, it was a remarkable season for Walsh who broke the field hockey assist record on Oct. 21 that was untouched for over 30 years. Caharly, the starting goalie, also had a successful season, marking over 100 saves on this season alone.
Expectations were set high coming into the season. Last year, Westfield upset Montclair in the sectional quarterfinals, advancing to the semifinals – somewhere they have not been since the 1990s. Walsh said, “Coming into this season, we expected to do the same thing; make it to the semis of the sectional final. We lost a lot of seniors and a lot of talent but having a lot of young players come in, we were ready to perform our best.”
However, this season going into the sectional tournament, Westfield was ranked 10th. Away at Old Bridge in the first round, the Blue Devils faced a heartbreaking 2-1 loss.
“I think we came off of a high last season,” said Doherty. “There were a lot of expectations coming into this season about who’s going to be breaking records, how far are we going to make it with an expectation to make it as far, and of course, we did fall short.”
The Blue Devils’ season may have not been what they had hoped for or anticipated this year, but with a young roster and an experienced coaching staff, the future of the program looks brighter.
“I actually think going into next season, the girls are going to have a really good chance,” said Walsh. “I think they learned a lot this season, especially the coaches, on how team bonding is important. I think going forward, they’re gonna use that to fuel the team and look at passion on the field as a positive.”
