As sophomore Lorelei McGorty bolted towards the goal, she whipped her stick behind her back and snuck a dazzling shot past the goalie. This finish highlighted another commanding performance for Westfield, as they stumped Montgomery 18-2. This extended their win streak to four, and showed their building momentum heading into an exciting postseason.
Westfield seized control immediately, overwhelming Montgomery with relentless offensive pressure. The Blue Devils jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Head coach Katie DaSilva said the hot start relieved pressure for the rest of the game, and “you always want a buffer in case they come back. This is a good team, and we expected it to be close, so we just kept saying we have to play every quarter like the score is 0-0.”
Leading the way for the potent offense was McGorty, tallying eight goals, two assists and four draw controls. She said, “[This performance] definitely helps because I know what I’m capable of, and I know that my team trusts me and I trust them.”
Westfield’s attack found no problems scoring, and DaSilva was proud of the depth from their offense. She said, “Seeing multiple people score, it lets [us] know that [our offense] doesn’t rely on one person, and since a lot of the teams in states are going to face guard our top scorers, other people showing they can score too is promising.”
Coming into the day, Montgomery was 12-3 and had earned themselves the No. 3 seed in the South Jersey Group 4 Tournament. Senior tri-captain Gillian Cohen who also had herself a nice game, scoring four goals and four assists, said, “This team is Group 4, ranked relatively high, so I think knowing that we can handle a Group 4 team with ease gives us confidence going into the first two rounds which are supposed to be a little easier, and then facing Ridgewood hopefully in the semifinals. We need some momentum for that game, it’ll be a tough one, but we have beat them.”
The Blue Devils will continue their dominance against Moorestown at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday at home. This will be their last regular season game before starting their state run against No. 15 seed West Orange at home on Thursday.
