The clock was inching along second by second and narrowing down to the end of the game. Westfield was down by 1 goal and had trailed Mountain Lakes since the start of the game. However, Lily Dickerson had her mind set on evening the scoreboard. Mountain Lakes launched a hopeful pass to midfield, attempting to clear the ball, but Dickerson was lying in wait and snatched it at its peak. Dickerson drove the ball down the field and quickly passed it to Gillian Cohen, who buried the ball in the net, tying the game up at 10-10.
Soon after that Ella McLane shot a bullet from the outside that found the goal with ease. Westfield had its first lead of the game and never looked back. McLane finished with a team-high 4 goals. Sofia Della Rocco had 3 of her own, with many other players adding 1 point each for Westfield.
Erin Hazard, usually on only the defensive side of the ball, was able to showcase her offensive assets Tuesday by adding a goal of her own early in the second half. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to be playing on both sides of the ball because I am normally just a defender, but I saw my name on the lineup and I switched my mentality as I was ready to play wherever they needed me,” said Hazard.
Mountain Lakes had the momentum for most of the first half, at one point having a 4-goal lead and finishing the half up 8-6. Kayla Plotts scored her 100th goal in the game and finished with a game-high 8 goals, but the Blue Devils surely diminished the Lakers’ spirits in the second half. Most of Mountain Lakes’ goals came from cutting toward the net and finding the gaps in the Westfield defense with quick ball movement.
“They moved the ball really quick today and have a lot of talented players on the crease too,” said head coach Abby Cohn. “They moved our defenders to one side and they just went for it and shot unexpectedly.”
However, it did not take long for Westfield defender Sara Rooney to figure out the Lakers’ offense as she seemed to get a stick on almost every pass. Rooney was able to break up several passes throughout the game and disrupt Mountain Lakes’ offense as well as propel Westfield’s.
“Getting turnovers to really lead into the offense really just helped the momentum of the entire game on both offense and defense,” said Rooney.
The Lakers went into the game with a 5-10 record but are not an easy matchup as they play some of the toughest teams in the state. Their schedule includes multiple top 20 teams, such as Oak Knoll, Summit and Chatham. The two teams were supposed to play in April, but the game was originally canceled, then rescheduled for Tuesday.
“We had to reschedule this game because the state tournament, we’re in Group 4, the toughest competition with bigger schools. We are going to have a tough time in the second round and this game today prepared us for that because Mountain Lakes is good competition in the Stars and Stripes Conference, and without the game today, we would just be practicing,” said Cohen.
Westfield, the No. 4 seed, will take on East Brunswick, the No. 13 seed, in the first round of the North 2, Group 4 sectional tournament on Thursday. The Blue Devils will have to take down the Bears if they want to continue their season.
