Under two minutes remaining. Tie game. Alex Rokhsar, sophomore midfielder, steps back, lining up his corner. His hand shoots into the air as he starts his approach. Westfield fans perk up in their seats, praying for a goal to secure a victory. Rokhsar delivers, the ball sails over the heads off the Summit defenders, right to junior Ethan Wade. A perfect corner, and a perfect header. The Westfield faithful erupted as the ball collided with the back of the net, while Summit walked away, defeated in spirit.
This goal from Wade was just one of Westfield’s four goals in their high scoring 4-3 victory over Summit this Thursday. Alongside Wade, goals were scored by seniors Ben Nematadzira, Patrick Cadigan and Zach Preucil.
Westfield controlled the first half in dominating fashion, staying on the offensive for most of the first 40 minutes. Missing key starter Derek Azevedo along with co-captain David Savransky, who went down early with a broken nose, the Blue Devils needed to rally. Senior Adam Tukaczynski got involved early, swiftly manipulating the ball around Summit defenders and to his teammates. Summit made their first push of the match, going for the back of the net in vain as senior goalkeeper Luke Tennant quickly cleaned up the shot. Nematadzira, currently sitting on three goals this season, redirected the focus back to the offensive side.
After an intense back and forth, with 11:31 remaining in the first half, Cadigan notched his first varsity goal when he found the back of the net off of a corner kick. Cadigan said, “I was just going to run into the middle and see what I could get and the ball came over and I threw my body at it and got a lucky deflection.” Preucil had a different point of view: “It was a skillful deflection, not lucky,” he said. Cadigan’s lone goal put the Blue Devils up 1-0 at the halfway mark.
Coming out of halftime with urgency, Westfield got on the board with a goal from Nematadzira, his fourth of the season. Shortly after the goal, a Summit player let his frustration get the best of him and cursed at the referee. As a consequence he was awarded a red card, putting the Hilltoppers down a man for the rest of the match.
Though down a man, Summit was not going to go out without a fight. With 30 minutes remaining in the second half, Summit found their offense. The Hilltoppers pushed the ball down the field, passed the Westfield defense and towards the corner. They delivered a cross that found the head of a Summit forward, leading to a score.
Westfield’s lead was cut to one and Preucil was not going to let that goal go unanswered. He danced between defenders until it was just the goalie, a defender, and himself. He dribbled until he got some space between himself and the defender and fired a shot on goal that was able to trickle past the goalie.
“I didn’t know what angle I had. I glanced up and hit it as hard as I could. Fortunately the keeper didn’t handle it well, but a goal is a goal,” said Preucil.
The two teams fought hard for the next 10 minutes, but ultimately, Summit ended up with the next goal. After losing a couple of 50/50 balls, Summit was able to score off of a corner kick and another header. Westfield seemed to be playing nervous and passive, despite a commanding lead.
“Sometimes it came down to who wanted it more, and in some instances it seemed like we didn’t,” said Cadigan.
With five minutes left in the match, Summit was desperate to equalize and pushed aggressively. Even with 10 men, the Hilltoppers put mounds of pressure on the Blue Devils, pressure that would lead to their third goal by header in the match. With a score of 3-3, Summit celebrated as they had completed the comeback, but the match was not over. Westfield’s goal in the final two minutes of the match cemented their 4-3 victory.
Although they won, Westfield was not entirely happy with their victory. Coach Eric Shaw said, “We never want to give up three goals, especially down a man, and we struggled a little bit in those tight areas.”
Preucil added, “At a certain point it came down to not letting them breathe and unfortunately we let them equalize. When we get our games to 3-1, we can’t let them back in, we have to finish them.”
Westfield looks to stay hot against Ocean Township at home on Sep. 23 at 1 p.m. Still waiting on Azevedo and Savransky’s return, each and every player on the roster is ready to step up and continue the Blue Devils’ successful season into the county and state playoffs.
