Two of the best boys soccer teams in New Jersey faced off Thursday night. Coming into the match, Westfield and Scotch Plains-Fanwood were ranked 4 and 16, respectively, but the higher-ranked team did not come out on top. Scotch Plains captured the win thanks to stalwart defense and constant pressure.
“We didn’t expect the pressure,” said junior Manny Gayanilo. “We came into the game thinking we could play out the back but had trouble moving it forward.”
This caused a plethora of problems for Westfield, who failed to create many legitimate scoring chances in the first half. Scotch Plains did an excellent job of controlling the ball and substantially won the possession battle in the first half. It paid off; with 13 minutes left in the half, SPF broke the tie after a cross across the face of goal deflected off Niko Pierce and into the net.
The Raiders came out firing on all cylinders to start the second half. Senior co-captain Dylan Fei had a great chance to increase the Raiders’ lead to 2-0. However, goalkeeper Michael Liebermann came up with an incredible save to prevent the Raiders from increasing their lead.
After an action-packed first few minutes of the second half, the Blue Devils had a great opportunity to even up the game with a corner kick taken by senior Ian Schultz. But, the relentless Raiders defense, led by senior co-captain Gio Marra, cleared the ball in a hurry.
Minutes later, Gayanilo found junior Zach Preucil with a wide-open chance inside the box. Yet, Preucil could not capitalize and sent the shot just over the net and out of play. Westfield was eager to score in the early stages of the half. However, Scotch Plains effectively communicated and intercepted several of the Blue Devils’ passes to deny any serious scoring opportunities.
The Blue Devils were still scoreless with just 10 minutes left in the game. Another opportunity came the Blue Devils’ way as Fei was given a yellow card, allowing senior co-captain Noah Fischer to send a free kick deep into Raiders territory. But the chance was stopped quickly as the Blue Devils were whistled offside, allowing the Raiders to regain possession once again.
Now came the stalling game from the Raiders as the clock ticked in the witching minutes of the game. The Blue Devils could not capitalize on their few scoring chances, and the Raiders emerged victorious in a 1-0 nail-biter. It was the first time Scotch Plains has dethroned Westfield since Nov. 5, 2019.
Fischer said that even though goals were hard to come by, he is more than positive that “the goals will come.”
Westfield’s winning streak of six games was snapped Thursday night, but the squad will aim to get back into the win column when it travels to Summit on Wednesday.
