With the end of the third quarter approaching, Scotch Plains-Fanwood glides past Westfield and scored a striking shot into the back of the net. With Westfield’s lead only reading 4-3, the Blue Devils knew they needed to come into the fourth quarter with more energy. Ultimately, Westfield was able to lock in and win the Union County Tournament semifinal, 8-4.
Head coach William Wertheimer said, “Between the third and fourth quarters the team realized that they weren’t playing to their fullest potential and that they wanted to be playing here, [Johnson], on Saturday night.”
During the fourth quarter, a combination of quad-captain Colin Coyle, senior Luke Gerne and sophomore Koby Waldman’s shots, helped build the Blue Devils’ confidence back up. These goals widened the gap, helping settle the defenseman.
The first half started strong with quad-captain Christian Gilford scoring the first goal of the game. “The goal was just like a catalyst for the start of the game and our offense. It got everything going and brought the energy to the sideline which infected the players, so it just overall set the tone.”
Without senior starter Billy Gerne, the offense needed to adapt and figure out how they would fill the void of Gerne’s play. Gilford stepped up and filled this void. Typically he is a star player on offense making big plays, but yesterday he was working both sides of the field and making an impact everywhere he could.
After last season, Westfield lost two crucial defensive starters and had only one starter return, quad-captain Drew Pravlik. The goal of this season was to adjust to these changes and build a new, strong defense. Pravlik said, “We wanted to play aggressively, and that’s exactly what we did. We flew around the field, sent our slides early, and it really caused them to turn the ball over a lot and take poor-quality shots. Our defense has improved tremendously since the start of the season, and I think we can continue to get even better by cleaning up some of our minor mistakes.”
The Raiders and Blue Devils always bring the energy for the cross-town rivalry. As usual, this was a very aggressive and high intensity game from start to finish, neither team backed down until the final buzzer sounded.
Westfield will play Summit in the UCT final at 7:30 p.m. at ALJ on May 10. Earlier in the season, the Blue Devils fell to Summit, 11-6, and are looking to avenge that game. Gilford said, “Patience is the biggest thing. We can’t force any passes, or we are just going to turn the ball over. We just need to take the right shots.”
