On May 15, Westfield took a tough loss to Ridgewood in a conference game, 6-14.
There was optimism on the field and in the stands for Westfield to bounce back from their quarterfinal Union County Tournament loss (Girls Lacrosse Falls to Oak Knoll Despite a Hard-Fought Battle). But unfortunately, they did not get the outcome they wanted.
Ridgewood scored the first goal of the game about two minutes into the first quarter then quickly gained a lead of 0-3. With four minutes left in the first quarter, senior captain Lucy Mineo scored Westfield’s first goal and finally created momentum for her teammates to build off of. Sophomore Gilli Cohen saw Mineo’s signal and scored a goal three minutes later, making the score 2-3 Ridgewood. The close score gave Westfield fans and players a glimpse of hope that they could come out on top.
The second quarter counteracted this glimpse of hope as Ridgewood scored a total of five goals making the score 2-8 with only 47 seconds left. Mineo again set the tone for her team scoring her second goal with 36 seconds left in this quarter.
Ridgewood scored a total of three goals in the third quarter with only one goal in response from Mineo, completing her hat trick for this game and making the score 4-12. It was hard to revive with such a significant score gap this far into the game, but Westfield still kept pushing.
The final quarter of the game showed no shift for either team. Westfield was able to tally two more goals from senior Juliana Molinelli and junior Abi Mokrzycki; Ridgewood added four more to their total. All of Westfield’s shortcomings were amplified in the fourth quarter with low energy and even sloppier execution.
While Ridgewood seemed to be moving the ball this game without restriction and using transition to their full advantage, Westfield seemed to be stuck. Difficulty executing on shots, receiving multiple back to back penalties and lack of defensive communication limited the success of an immensely talented Westfield squad.
Mineo knows what her team is capable of, but the constant string of imobile obstacles seem to be dragging Westfield down. “I think personally, we just have to channel how we played during Oak Knoll. And we all have it in us as long as our mindset is right,” she said.
This mindset has been a problem from the beginning. Head coach Katie DaSilva thinks the pressure of the home field atmosphere is breaking her squad down one by one: “They just can’t handle the pressure.”
With another vital conference game against Montclair this week and states to follow, this team has to keep their eye on the prize and find a way to stay motivated after some disappointments in their season. DaSilva said, “At this point [their motivation] has to be intrinsic; I can’t do cartwheels and motivate them. They have to want to play or they’re gonna get knocked out in the first round of states.”
Mineo reiterated that Westfield needs a big attitude change as an entire unit in order to achieve any post season success. They need to make “each play as a team, not individually, and we’ll get the win.”
On Thursday the girls will need to keep up their energy against a tough opponent in Montclair as they will take on the Mounties at 4:30 p.m. at home.
