For senior quad-captain and goalkeeper Corey Gilford, a second shutout of the season was on the horizon after the first quarter ended 8-0. “It feels awesome to get another shutout. I couldn’t do it without my guys on defense,” said Gilford. The Blue Devils went on to have one of their most impressive games of the year beating Wall 16-0.
The Blue Devils came out firing in the first quarter. Wall’s defense was doing everything they could to stop Westfield from scoring goals, but Westfield’s momentum and forceful power up top was simply unstoppable. At the end of the first quarter, Westfield was up by an impressive eight goals. Powerhouses for the Blue Devils so far this season were continuing to produce.
Most notably, senior Washington and Lee commit Garrett Ferguson is leading the Blue Devils this season with 34 goals. However, on Westfield’s offense a large part of Ferguson’s success comes from senior quad-captain and University of Massachusetts Amherst commit Colin Coyle. Coyle has been a weapon for the Blue Devils for many seasons, he has 25 goals and 35 assists this year, making a huge impact on Westfield’s successes thus far.
Against Wall, Fergusen had six goals and Coyle had two, many of which came from each other. Senior midfielder and quad-captain Christian Gilford, who has also played with these two since childhood said, “I think when we move the ball quickly that’s when our offense is the best. Colin and Garrett lead us great in not being selfish.”
Head coach William Wertheimer echoed Christian Gilford’s ideas of unity being the team’s largest strength. “Togetherness is a huge strength. They play well when we play as a team, that’s when we win a lot of games. When we go to individual gameplay is when we lose,” Wertheimer said.
In cohesion with Westfield’s dominant forwards, there was room for many other players on the team to clock minutes. Many other players and underclassmen had opportunities to prove themselves in the second half of the game, by subbing in and working hard on the heels of Westfield’s starters. Senior quad-captain Drew Pravlik said, “We see these kids working so hard in practice and it’s good to see them finally get the chance to prove it on the field and get on the stat sheet.”
A rivalry game for Westfield is occurring this weekend, May 3, against Pingry. Westfield had a very long streak of beating Pingry year-after-year, however the past two years, Pingry has defeated Westfield. Christian Gilford said, “Pingry is the comeback game of this season. After the last two years, it’s definitely personal, especially because it is at home and a lot of us are playing former club teammates. We want this one extra bad.”
Before this exciting matchup, the Blue Devils are in action on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. away at Caldwell. This team looks forward to both of their upcoming games in hopes of increasing their record to 11-3 by the end of the week.
