The scoreboard blares, players clear the rainy playing field, heading to their tent-covered benches. The score reads 9-0 in favor of the visiting team, Morristown. Morristown dominated this game from the opening draw. Goal after goal, they picked apart the Westfield defense, quickly building up a 9-0 lead by the time the first quarter had ended.
However, Westfield did not stand much of a chance from the beginning. In the end, they suffered a 13-3 loss in their home opener, putting them at 0-1 to start the season.
With almost zero offensive possession in the first two quarters of play, catching up to the high-powered Morristown offense was a shot in the dark from the get-go.
The root of this lack of possession: draw control. In the first half, Westfield had only managed to win one draw, and even that was by default.
Missing two of their starters did not help their case either. Sophomore Alice Manzo had an injury but will be back playing next game; however, senior captain Sofia Della Rocco suffered a season-ending injury before the season had even started. Della Rocco, a University of Florida lacrosse commit, is a major factor in the Blue Devils offensive scheme. She had an extremely successful junior campaign which included 55 goals and 14 assists for a total of 69 points. Missing her presence on the field, the Blue Devils struggled to get things going offensively.
It was not until midway through the third quarter when senior captain Lucy Mineo buried the first goal for Westfield.
Mineo noted that “defense is our strongest, so we need to capitalize on offense and in transition, just working together. We need to work off each other more, especially off the ball and I think you could see that more in the second half.”
The second half of the game showed improvements for Westfield. They won four draws in the final two quarters, leading them to post three scores on the board.
First-year head coach, Kathryn DaSilva, credits their offensive struggles to the fact that “they were using a lot of one-on-one game,” she goes one to mention that it “obviously didn’t work because [they] have to use the effort of the whole attack.”
Despite the lopsided final score, DaSilva felt that “the defense did well considering how dominated it was down there.” She, along with her players, acknowledge that there is still a lot of work to be done.
Della Rocco added, “This season obviously looks a little different for me, not being able to play I have been able to be more vocal as I am able to see the game from a different perspective. I see where the team is strong and where some improvement is needed and have been primarily working with the offense as we have a ton of talent. I try to focus on helping teammates build confidence and have taken on more of a coaching role.”
Westfield looks to learn from the loss and bounce back on April 4 away against an 0-1 Northern Highlands team who Westfield has not beaten since 2014. Led by captains Mineo, Kate Watson, and Della Rocco, the new Westfield squad looks to break the streak and claim their first victory of the year.
