With the clock winding down, another tie scraped the horizon.
38… Summit attackers attempt a shot on the Westfield goal.
37… Junior goalkeeper Sofia Buoscio makes a save.
36… Buoscio hastily punts the ball to the 60-yard line.
35… The ball lands in co-captain Audra Toth’s skilled footwork, resulting in the crumbling of a Hilltopper and an excited “OOOHHH” from the Blue Devil audience.
34… Toth threads the needle with a perfect set-up for sophomore Emilie Cadigan for a high kick to the upper-right corner of the net.
With a meager Summit possession, the buzzer sounds as Westfield saunters off the field.
The game could have ended there, at halftime, with the Blue Devils leading 2-1. The defensive dynamism in the second half entertained a mundane 0-0 score, leaving the first-half lead transforming into the game-winning lead, 2-1.
Just four days before the Union County Tournament championship, the two finalists battled at Gary Kehler Stadium with the fate of the Union County Conference champions laying in the balance. After falling short, 1-0, in the first half, Westfield revived itself, finishing the second half, 1-1, to tie the game, and winning in overtime, 2-1, claiming the conference title.
On the chilly Saturday afternoon, the No. 1 seeded Blue Devils had no intention of repeating the overtime dilemma in the UCT finals against No. 2 seeded Hilltoppers.
According to co-captain Erin Hazard, “from the first whistle,” the Blue Devils focused on “starting with high intensity,” whether that be “making the first tackle or getting the first goal.”
Toth agreed, “With the energy and intimidation that comes with our team, when we can put the first goal in, the other team usually can’t recover.”
Alongside their vigor, Westfield’s strategy to capitalize from the Hilltoppers’ weak points was heightened after Tuesday’s game. Head coach Alex Schmidt said, “We realized we could expose the outsides.”
Similarly, Hazard said, “Coming into today, we made sure we were playing the width because we found there was a lot of pressure in the middle. So we tried to play it to our wings and our outside backs as much as we could.”
Cadigan confirmed this tactic’s success as “it opened up more pockets in the middle that [the Blue Devils] were able to play through.”
Before the electric Toth-Cadigan combination, a multitude of free kicks and corners were exchanged throughout the first half. In the first 15 minutes, Westfield tallied 5 corner kicks which were expertly set up by sophomore Mary Lane’s quick footwork and cleverly forced deflections.
On the sixth corner kick, Yenawine placed herself 10 feet from the ball, took three long steps, planted her final to wind up, and sent a bullet into the chaos-filled Summit box.
Sophomore Catherine Oliviera and a Hilltopper jumped to alter the ball’s trajectory. “It was difficult because I was facing backward, and couldn’t see behind me, but I flicked [the ball] and it curved toward the goal,” said Oliviera.
Summit’s demeanor quickly changed into aggression after the celebration and cheers from the Blue Devils’ first goal. The leading scorer and senior captain for Summit, Joelle Ma, turned up the heat with multiple attempts on goal from the 40-yard line and stout long-balls up the field to her teammates in order to speed up the game’s pace.
Following Westfield’s first goal, The Hilltoppers collected three corner kicks, all performed by Ma, the last of which ensued a mess of pin-ball passes dangerously close to the Blue Devils’ net. Senior Neil Ducey finished the play, landing another point on the scoreboard opposite Westfield’s to tie the game with only five minutes remaining.
The half was assumed to be tied until Cadigan’s goal at the 30-second mark. Closing the first half with a lead, Hazard “knew that [the Hilltoppers] were coming for blood and [would] come out with a lot of intensity” in the second half. As the leader of the defensive line, Hazard said, “We did our best to keep our composure and make sure that we stayed calm under their pressure.”
In comparison to the action-packed first half, the second half hosted an acute clash between defenses.
“The back line was focused on keeping our shape and staying connected. We also didn’t want to clear every ball, so we were trying to play through the width,” said Hazard.
As one of Hazard’s most significant troops, midfielder Andie Janota displayed a hustle-and-heart attitude which played a vital role in Westfield’s second-half shutout. “When we got the ball, we slowed down the game and kept possession to run that clock down,” Janota said.
This victory was a testament to the Blue Devils’ growth and dedication. “We have worked so hard this season, and we had one loss early on which I feel really changed our perspective. All our hard work paid off,” said Oliviera.
Next, Westfield will play at 2:00 p.m. on Nov. 4 in the first round of the sectional tournament at Gary Kehler Stadium, the opponent to be announced. In preparation, Schmidt said “We will have a nice week off to recover and get some practice in. Hopefully we will continue with momentum. They’ve won the conference, now the county, and next is the section, so we will deal with that now.”
1 comment
Very well written!