With only five seconds left in the first half, the crowd erupts in applause as sophomore Kate Cymbor scores a goal, furthering WHS girls lacrosse’s lead against Summit 7-1. The scoreboard only went up from there, resulting in the 13-7 win for the team and the conference win on April 28.
Summit has held a long winning streak over Westfield in high-stakes, close-scoring games. Finally, after years, the team has come up on top and shown that they are the better team.
The team dominated in the first half of the game. The defense stayed incredibly strong, forcing multiple turnovers resulting in the team’s heavy beginning lead. Head coach Katie DaSilva said, “The other team was falling apart, yelling at the refs and slamming their sticks. We really do not play like that and that is what stood out in our team’s performance. I think that discipline takes you a long way.”
During halftime, junior Payton Monusky came out strong in her first game back on the team after transferring back to WHS from a private school in Massachusetts. Her delayed return was due to the NJSIAA transfer rules, which required Monusky to sit out of games for around a month before returning. “It was very exciting to be back. There were definitely a lot of nerves, but the team had my back and were cheering me on the whole time.”
In the second half, the team’s lead slowly caved in. Summit found a way to score seven more goals within the time, while Westfield put five more on the scoreboard. Senior tri-captain Maeve Wojcik said, “The game did start to get a little rocky in the second half and that is definitely something to improve on: keeping the lead when we have it. But overall, this win showed that we are a great team and can put our best foot forward when we need to. I think it is important that we learn from this game and our mistakes while also taking away all of the positives from the game that were evident.”
The team is ranked number three in counties, which are approaching very soon. DaSilva said, “We wanted to make a statement in this game about why we should have been the number one seed in counties. This game did exactly that and proved that the Westfield Girls Lacrosse Team is the best team in Union County.”
The team will continue their season at Pingry on Saturday at 2:45 pm.
