Westfield and Cranford faced off in a highly anticipated intra-county matchup on a dreary Monday afternoon. Cranford was looking for revenge after its 6-0 blowout loss against Westfield just two weeks ago. For the Blue Devils, however, it was the team’s senior day, and they did everything in their power to prevent Cranford from spoiling the celebratory occasion.
Westfield came out of the gates firing on all cylinders. Senior Evan Crozier was a force early on for the Blue Devils as he found senior teammate Brendan Percival for a wide-open opportunity deep into Cougar territory, however, Cranford caught a break as it was called offsides.
Minutes later, senior Anthony Buoscio gave Crozier a beautiful cross right outside the penalty area, and Crozier was able to send a strike past Cranford’s goalkeeper and Westfield quickly jumped in front, 1-0, only 10 minutes into the game.
Speaking on his goal, Crozier said that he noticed “the keeper was sitting back on his heels in the middle of the net, allowing me to place the ball past the [keeper].”
Shortly after, Westfield looked to extend its lead as Buoscio found senior co-captain Noah Fischer wide open outside the penalty area, but Fischer was unable to capitalize and shot it wide right of the goalkeeper. Meanwhile, Fischer was able to redeem himself as he fired a shot that was too hot for the goalkeeper to handle. The Blue Devils now led 2-0 halfway through the first half.
After a careless play by the Blue Devils defense and a mix-up between Fischer and senior goalkeeper Will Holland, the Cougars were able to take advantage of the misplays and notched their first goal of the game. Westfield now led only 2-1 going into the second half.
Westfield applied loads of pressure in the beginning minutes of the second half as it looked to add an insurance goal. And that is exactly what Westfield did. On a corner kick for Westfield, junior David Savransky floated the ball right in front of the net, and senior Ryan Bertsch was able to head the ball into the back of the goal, extending Westfield’s lead to 3-1.
With just 7 minutes to go in the game, sophomore Daniel De Sousa found space in Cranford’s defense and was able to thread the ball to Bertsch. Bertsch then shot the ball over the stretched arms of the goalkeeper, and Westfield increased its lead to 4-1 and defeated the Cougars for the second time this season.
Speaking of his excellent performance, Bertsch said, “It was fun to have the opportunity to have a good game on senior day especially with all the family here.”
The Blue Devils have now won two straight games and are looking to extend their streak as they travel to the Monroe Classic this Saturday, where they will take on St. Joseph (Metuchen).
