With 10:05 to go in the second half, co-captain Emilie Cadigan drove to the net, found the remains of a loose shot from Molly McDermott and buried it past the diving goalkeeper to send the Westfield crowd into a frenzy. Cadigan’s goal, her second of the game, helped Westfield rally to a 2-2 draw against Rutgers Prep after double overtime.
The upset tie improves Westfield to 7-0-1 on the season, while Rutgers Prep, ranked seventh in the nation according to unitedsoccercoaches.org, falls to 5-0-2.
After an even start, Rutgers Prep sophomore Jackie Galdovsky found the back of the net off a fast break to open the scoring just under ten minutes in. The Blue Devils responded with a few good offensive chances, including a free kick by Cadigan and a pair of shots from McDermott that were stopped by senior goalkeeper Jordan Reigrod. The Argonauts weathered the Blue Devil attack, and with 10:35 left in the half, Galdovsky scored on a header for her second goal of the game and 11th of the year. Blue Devils junior goalkeeper Phoebe Klag made a diving stop to end the half with Westfield trailing 2-0.
“Our goal was to limit crosses from the right, and the first two goals came from crosses from the right,” said head coach Alex Schmidt. “It’s hard to come back, so I give our players a ton of credit for being able to come back.”
Westfield came out of the half dominating possession and with 27:20 remaining, a Cadigan shot from the top right of the box clipped the back of the white netting, pulling the Blue Devils within a goal. The Blue Devils gained momentum, using their speed to weaken the Argonaut defense. After missing high on a shot and a stop by Reigrod, Cadigan scored with 10:05 remaining to cap off the comeback and tie the game at two.
“Once we had our holding midfielder drop back more, we were able to gain more possession. Once we got more possession, we were able to attack more, and not have to focus on the defense so much,” said senior Nina Rodrigues.
The Blue Devils controlled for the rest of regulation, sending the team to overtime for the first time this season. Each team played conservatively in overtime, with Klag making two stops with under four minutes to play. With the score still even at two, the game went to a second overtime. Rutgers Prep missed wide on a penalty kick, and after a stop by Reigrod, her ninth of the game, in the final minute, the final whistle sounded with a 2-2 tie.
“This is what you expect from Cadigan. Big-game player. All she does is score in big games,” Schmidt said in praise of his star senior. “Go back to Bridgewater or State Finals, we can count on Cadigan when we need to, and we did.”
Undoubtedly, this was one of the biggest crowds the Blue Devils have seen supporting them thus far this season. The bleachers were packed with students and families all rallying for Westfield as they took on their most challenging opponent of the season.
“The energy of this game was amazing, from the bench and everything. We were able to play to our strengths,” Cadigan said.
Cadigan has now scored a team-leading 13 goals this season. McDermott, who assisted on both Westfield goals in the game, has 10 assists, while Klag’s 7 stops on the night bring her season total to 18.
“We knew this would be a tough game, win or lose. It is an out-of-conference game, so it looks really good on paper, tying number one. We now need to take care of business in the conference,” said Schmidt.
“We need to continue to come up strong and be the better team in both halves. We did not give up or let down, even though we were down 2-0,” Rodrigues said.
Westfield returns to conference play Tuesday afternoon against Oak Knoll in the second game of a four-game homestand before a road game at Scotch Plains-Fanwood to close out the regular season.
