With just over one minute remaining in the fourth quarter, senior Cooper Cimei fired a shot into the back of the net to propel the Blue Devils to an 11-10 win over a nationally ranked powerhouse in the Seton Hall Prep Pirates.
Coming into the game, the Blue Devils were facing adversity. They had lost their first two games to two top quality opponents and would now face an even tougher one. Head coach William Wertheimer said, “Our boys just came off that last loss and just worked hard at practicing the film.”
Westfield took control early despite the slow start, falling down 2-1. Nevertheless, with two goals in the final minute of the first quarter, Westfield took the lead heading into the break, 4-2.
SHP punched back early in the second quarter, handling four goals in a matter of minutes. However, sophomore Patrick Smith, who had himself a hat trick on the day, stopped the bleeding with a goal right around the two-minute mark.
As halftime approached, Westfield had a critical possession. They were down 6-5 and knew how important a goal would be to tie the game going into half. Senior tri-captain Luke Spaide picked the ball up from midfield, drove all the way to the crease, and fired a shot past the SHP goalie.
Spaide said, “I knew someone had to make a play, so I decided to take it into my own hands”
Despite the momentum the Blue Devils had going into halftime, they started the second half on their back foot, letting in four straight goals. The score was10-6 with two minutes left in the third quarter.
The Blue Devils, though, knew they could fight back and kepty chipping away at the lead. It started with Smith’s third goal of the game, just as the third quarter ended to put the game to 10-7 as the fourth quarter approached.
As the fourth quarter began, it was noticeable that the Blue Devils had found extra motivation somewhere. They put the pressure on and with four minutes to go in the quarter, junior Kieran Gerne opened his scoring account to tie the game 10-10.
SHP would have possession with two minutes to go but junior Tyson Varner made another clutch save that gave the Blue Devils the ball.
Westfield had the ball and knew what they had to do. They took their time, ran the set they wanted and that’s when they found Cimei at the top of the crease who fired in the game-winning goal.
The Blue Devils would hold on strong and make a statement as they completed the five-goal comeback against the top team in the state and a nationally ranked opponent.
The Blue Devils will now look to build off this win as they take on Red Bank Regional on April 2nd home at 4:30. Cimei said the energy is only growing from the win. “Only up from here. We started out 0-2. Then, we went 1-2 with this big win, and I think it’s only up from here. We’re riding that.”
Spaide agreed, adding, “This is going to be a huge motivation boost for us. You know, I think it’s something we desperately needed, because even though we knew that we could hang with teams like this, we needed to see that we could do it. And, to get a first win under a wing, that’s good.”
