“It’s part of life,” said senior co-captain Andrew Lisnock after a heartbreaking end to the season.
Westfield was riding high after a 6-1 victory over Rumson-Fair Haven, heading into the state sectional semi-final against Middletown North. However, the atmosphere in the arena was quite one-sided. North managed to bring two full buses of fans, which made their crowd a real factor.
Despite the excitement among North’s supporters, the Blue Devils quickly took the lead. A power play for the Blue Devils resulted in a one-timer slap shot from junior Liam Duffy, which found the back of the net just six minutes in.
North replied by scoring a goal five minutes later, shifting the momentum back to their side. The game was intensely physical and more aggressive than usual. Of course, it was do or die; everything was at stake. After the first period, it was clear that we were headed for an exciting finish.
As the second period began, you could feel the pressure mounting. The Blue Devils were dominating but still couldn’t find the back of the net despite having many grade-A scoring chances. “We outshot them 32 to 18, but it just wasn’t our day and we couldn’t find the back of the net,” said Lisnock.
The period was nearing its end, but after a save from goalie and assistant captain Troy Conover, the Lions fired the rebound back into the net and erupted. The second period would end 2-1, and Westfield knew these last 15 minutes could be the end of their season.
Any opportunities the Blue Devils aspired to find in the third period painfully slipped through their fingers after they couldn’t manage to find any of the magic that netted them their first goal in the early moments of the game. As the game closed Westfield players appeared helpless as their season was running away from them. Westfield would go on to lose 3-1.
The loss was obviously a shock to say the least, the two had met just two months prior where Westfield took the match 4-1 in a routine victory. When looking at the preview coming into the upset, No. 17 ranked Middletown North had decisive losses to teams the No. 7 Blue Devils toppled such as Livingston and Governor Livingston.
“ We scored early, our goal was to get up early. But then from there, we had opportunities that we didn’t finish on,” explained head coach Joe Bertucci, “It’s a back and forth playoff game, and funny balances happen, you know? And I think that goalie got a couple lucky saves, and we just couldn’t find them back in the net.”
Although the season didn’t end how the Blue Devils were hoping it would, coach Bertucci best summarized the final game’s impact on the team’s performance this season, “You can’t let one game, win or lose, define the entire season. Obviously, you want to always be celebrating in the end, but 99% of the state doesn’t get to do that. But overall, it has been such a joy to coach these kids. They’re good kids. They work their butts off every single day.”
