Friends and families filled the stands, and posters lined the fences. With just four minutes left in the second half, senior Mary Lane scored in the bottom right corner of the goal, sealing Westfield’s 5-0 victory over Union. Fittingly, every goal came from a senior on their celebrated senior day.
Coming off an undefeated season, head coach Alex Schmidt explained how this was a new start. “We play for four trophies, so the first is the Watchung conference and then you reset, and now it’s the county tournaments,” he explained. “ I always say the quarterfinals is the hardest because you’re going to play a team that wants to upset you, and the number one team.”
Westfield started their offensive streak midway through the first half with a goal from senior tri-captain Ashley Yenawine. The team continued to dominate the field with one more goal for Yenawine, two goals for Lane, and one goal from Andie Janota, all being seniors. Janota remarked on how her goal was even more special, and how “everyone had someone that they were playing more for.”
Both teammates commented on the importance of their teammate and tri-captain Callie Schmidt taking the field for the kickoff after being out the full season due to an injury. “I think it was a really special moment for Callie, who has been out all season,” Yenawine said. “To be able to walk out on the field, do the kickoff and be able to walk off.”
With all of the seniors being in the program since their freshman year, it was a special day for them. “To get a win on senior day means a lot. We started slow, everybody was emotional in the locker room—and that’s understandable—but it’s great. All the parents, all the grandparents, brothers and sisters, it’s a cool atmosphere,” said Alex Schmidt.
The team looks to bring back this same energy next week as they advance in counties. “We need to sweep this game under the rug and move forward and not look back. Every game we get better and start fresh,” said Janota.
Yenawine agrees, explaining how they “need to make sure we practice our attacking patterns and just work on our composure up top because once we found our composure up top in this game, we were able to convert five easy goals. If we can do that a little earlier on in the semifinal game, I think we’ll be really successful.”
The Blue Devils will continue their run in the county tournament on Oct. 25 as they travel to play against Arthur L. Johnson in the semifinal round.
