“Tick, tick, tick.” The seconds on the scoreboard slowly dropped. It was like a scene from a movie. The crowd was on its feet, leaning forward to get a good glimpse of the Westfield offense. And then it happened. GOAL! Sofia Della Rocco launched the ball like a rocket right over the goalie’s head, sealing the Blue Devils’ 10–9 victory.
Immaculate Heart Academy came out firing, netting three goals in the first five minutes. It was like a hammer had hit Westfield, freezing its defense and causing immense confusion.
Senior co-captain Ella McLane knew this was her time to shine. With the ball moving quickly on offense and off of a beautiful assist from freshman Alice Manzo, McLane placed it swiftly under the crossbar. Goal.
The Westfield fans were electric, realizing the opportunity for a comeback was in full swing. However, this was quickly cut short as the Blue Devil defense started to lack once again, allowing IHA to quickly sneak two more goals in.
The 5–1 score stuck out like a sore thumb on the Blue Devils’ rusty scoreboard. This was not how they planned it to go and this was not how they wanted to finish. As the first half was winding down, the Blue Devils needed to act quickly.
Freshman Gillian Cohen responded to these prayers, scoring a beautiful goal and hyping up the Blue Devils. With momentum on the Blue Devil side, Westfield worked quickly, moving the ball to its offense after winning the draw. With only nine seconds left in the half, sophomore Abi Mokrzycki dished it to McLane who placed it perfectly into the net for a 5–3 score.
This was huge since Westfield was only down 2 goals going into halftime, the perfect chance to get the team organized.
“The expectation for this year’s team is very high, coming out hot and ready to play, especially after halftime,” said McLane. “We prepared a lot for this game and this season so we were ready to dominate the game.”
The Blue Devils looked even hungrier in the third quarter. Mokryzcki scooped up a missed shot and whipped it to senior co-captain Lily Dickerson who buried it, bringing the game to a 5–4 IHA lead.
Della Rocco knew this was the perfect time to capitalize, running through the entire IHA defense to score the game-tying goal. Tie game. This 5–5 score was exactly what Westfield needed to really get a grip of the game.
However, the Blue Devil defense seemed to fall apart almost instantly. With only 16 minutes left in the game, Immaculate Heart netted three goals in a row, pushing the score to 8–5. All Blue Devil hope seemed completely extinguished.
What happened was completely the opposite. It was almost like a domino effect. One Blue Devil goal after another. First it was McLane with a powerful snipe, then Mokrycki sending the Westfield fans into a frenzy, and after an unfortunate IHA goal, Dickerson answered back putting the score at 9–8.
“Our plan is to always remain calm and play our game,” Dickerson said. “We have a self reflection and visualization period set before every game and we use this to our advantage so that when the game gets frantic, we don’t allow it to affect our game.”
The Blue Devils were angry and wanted to execute IHA for good. After a huge defensive stop and a great save from junior Kaitlynn Czarnecki, Westfield set up its offense. After a few cuts, the Blue Devils buried the game tying goal. Momentum on their side, the Blue Devils knew the comeback was not complete.
After an outstanding draw, Mokrzycki used her last bit of energy to dish it to Della Rocco who bulldozed her way through the IHA defense and drove it past the IHA goalie. Goal. The comeback was complete.
Completely out of gas, Immaculate Heart could only watch as the Blue Devils carried the ball for the remainder of the game. 10–9 Blue Devil victory.
“We knew this game was ours the second that whistle blew,” McLane said. “After we let up a few goals, we calmed down and started to work more offensively. Before long, the game was in our hands and we secured the win.”
