As the gray clouds covered Cranford’s newly built turf field, Westfield made it known that it would soon be their territory. Heaps of raindrops could not flush out the Blue Devils from winning this game. As the girls huddled to stay warm, they knew they had to achieve victory in their final regular season game.
Although the turf was exceedingly slippery, the Blue Devils did not let that affect their play. As their ball movement stayed constant, Westfield’s offense came ready to play. Although the first few shots consisted of missed headers and balls that went just wide of the net, sisters Ella and Emilie Cadigan were able to connect for the first goal of the game. As Ella ran the ball up the field into the bottom of Cranfords defensive zone, she found a gap between two defenders to hit Emilie who passed it back to Ella who then hit it into the bottom left corner, falling gracefully to the floor, showing her effort to get that first point.
“I think the girls finished really well, got back to scoring some goals and put us in a good mental state,” explained head coach Alex Schmidt.
Almost immediately after, junior Audra Toth launched the ball from outside the 18-yard box into the corner of the 6-yard box where sophomore Andie Janota got the rebound and knocked it into the back of the net to increase the score 2-0.
As Cranford started to get antsy, the Blue Devils defensive line, Sophomore Callie Schmidt, Sophomore Olivia DiGregorio and Toth, stayed calm and prevented any major progression from the Cougars along with help from senior co-captain, Kate Giglio.
For the rest of the first half, Westfield maintained dominant possession over Cranford, not allowing them the opportunity to create any genuine chances to add points to their scoresheet.
The Blue Devils went into the second half pumped after Schmidt explained that, “the next goal is very important.” As the girls looked to keep their lead, all eyes were on the back of Cranfords goal.
However, Westfield started to get into their heads as they finally allowed Cranford to increase into their offensive zone for more than a minute at a time. For a few nerve-racking moments, it seemed the Blue Devils may have lost their composure and that the Cougars were capitalizing on it.
“We got a little shaky in the second half which is not an excuse, but we have to be a little more powerful with our clears and when we want to get the ball out, we have to persevere,” explained Giglio.
Luckily, senior Sofia Gesser and junior Brooke Morrison were able to calm the game back down, allowing Westfield to recollect and take back the game that was originally theirs.
With 30 minutes left in the second half, junior Ashley Yenawine was able to answer Schmidt’s wish as she gained the next and third goal of the game. Off a header from Toth, Yenawine was able to see the back of the net, getting her foot underneath the ball, connecting the ball with the net.
For the remainder of the second half, it was a very back and forth game, with Westfield still maintaining a lead of three. During the final minute, Ella Cadigan was able to get her second goal of the game off a split pass from Morrison, ending the game with Westfield winning 4-0.
“We did a very good job finding the through balls up the sides and getting our crosses off. We really worked on our finishing and scored four really good goals,” explained Ella Cadigan.
The girls are back next Thursday at home for the first round of the North 2, Group 4 sectional championship.
