As the sun beat down on Kehler Stadium, the girls lacrosse team was feeling the pressure as the clock ticked down during the fourth quarter and their lead lessened. The Blue Devils dominated the first half of the game with the help of sophomore Kate Cymbor’s hat trick and headed into the locker room with an 8-3 lead over the Cougars, but their success dwindled in the second half, barely holding on for an 11-10 win.
Westfield took a quick 3-0 lead with two goals from Cymbor and one from sophomore Lorelei McGorty. Chatham slipped one past freshman Mia Calderon-Brown as the clock ticked down, ending the first quarter with a 3-1 Blue Devil lead over the top-ranked team in the state. Cymbor said, “On offense, we were setting picks for each other and cutting. That was working really well, and we got their defense to slip a little bit, which was great.”
The Blue Devils continued to dominate on their home field throughout the first half with four different players tallying goals, leading to an impressive 8-3 score heading into halftime.
Senior tri-captain Gilli Cohen said, “We wanted to come out really strong in the first half, and that’s what we did. We wanted to come out strong, because if we didn’t, we knew Chatham would. Building that lead early is what led us to winning the game.”
After halftime, the Blue Devils seemed confident and relaxed. Coming into the third quarter with a five-goal lead, the team was near victory against New Jersey’s number one. The lead was maintained throughout the third quarter, and with a five-goal lead heading into the fourth quarter, the girls felt confident enough in their odds.
With less than four minutes left and a three-goal lead for Westfield, Chatham stormed back and cut the lead to one goal. Head coach Katie DaSilva said, “We thought we had won this game and stopped playing.”
The team struggled to clear the ball downfield, and this lapse allowed Chatham to capitalize and inch toward the lead. With five seconds left in the fourth, Chatham scored, bringing the Westfield lead down to one goal. DaSilvia, who was clearly frustrated with her team’s defense in the second half, said, “If this game was 20 seconds longer, we’d be in overtime right now, so the positive is that we got a nice buffer [from the high scoring first half].”
When asked how the team would use this frustration and emotion to bounce back, Cohen said, “I think that we all need more confidence on the field. When pressure comes, we start to get a little frantic. So I think just practicing with pressure and knowing that everyone is capable of dealing with it is definitely gonna be something helpful, and just knowing that we have trust in all of our teammates.”
The team is back in action on Saturday versus Northern Highlands away at 1 p.m. After this close win against Chatham, they will be focusing on clearing the ball defensively and keeping calm under pressure.
