The majestic clouds opened to allow the historic Gary Kehler Stadium to be draped in a beautiful swath of heavenly sunlight. Blue and white balloons littered the bleachers, festivities sidelined as those in attendance riveted their attention to the fierce competition on the field. As eyes darted between the Westfield players sprinting in transition, in pursuit of Elizabeth defenders, senior Sofia Gesser made a break towards the opposing goal on the near sideline.
Not yet halfway through the first half, Westfield’s control of the game had been uninterrupted. A defensive stop allowed Gesser to switch the field quickly and cross the ball to the other side, setting up a pass into the center of the Minutemen defense. It streaked across the turf, spiking rubber into the air. Senior captain Ella Cadigan retrieved the ball with a beautiful first touch. Making a turn towards the goal, she struck it past the goalkeeper for Westfield’s first goal. 1-0. An impeccable offensive sequence.
Senior Day. One of the final regular season games of their high school soccer careers. Coming off of a loss in the Union County Tournament semifinal round to Oak Knoll, Westfield looked to re-establish their dominance, and they did just that with their 2-1 win over Elizabeth. Gesser felt that the win was big for not just the seniors, but the whole team. “We’re super excited about it. And I think the seniors are super excited to come back from the last loss. We have to remember that this isn’t redemption. We haven’t gone back to zero after the last loss. We’re gonna keep going keep pushing through the state tournament.”
The first half saw no other scores. This, however, did not reflect the Blue Devils’ control of the ball on both sides of the field. The defense made quick stops throughout the game, easily returning the ball to their counterparts on the offense. The defensive line was headed by gritty contributions from junior Audra Toth and sophomores Callie Schmidt and Olivia DiGregorio. Head coach Alex Schmidt recognized their value to the team, even though it is early in some of their varsity careers. “Between Callie and Liv, who are both sophomores, and Audra the whole day, you know, they did a really good job,” he said. His coaching game plan was to “put [our] big fighters in the back who were going to take some blows, and [Elizabeth was] super technical [and] hard to defend. I think the girls did a good job.”
Scoring was the only struggle. Many pushes were stopped by offsides calls, and goals were lost by errant shots.
An intense push with two minutes left before halftime looked promising. The team seemed tired of coming so close. The ball flew between defenders, passed through them, to open Blue Devils. It eventually landed at Cadigan’s feet. She lofted it over the goalkeeper who was standing outside of the goal. The ball struck the crossbar and bounced over. A matter of inches stopped Westfield from taking a two-goal lead in the first. “You know, it’s hard to finish, but we got a bunch of chances,” said Schmidt.
Less than 10 minutes into the second half, the offense managed to sneak another cross into Cadigan. She immediately swung and connected. In an instant, the ball had reached the goal. Westfield led the Minutemen 2-0.
Another opportunity approached the Blue Devils when senior Marisa O’Connell broke free from the Elizabeth defense. She sprinted ahead of defenders and made a shot at the goal. To Westfield fans’ dismay, the Elizabeth goalkeeper stood strong and stopped the ball in its path.
Westfield made more shots but none connected. Midway through the first half, senior captain Kate Giglio kicked a long, arcing shot that missed the goal. Elizabeth did not have as many opportunities to score, but it did not stop them from making it onto the scoreboard.
With 10 minutes left in the game, Elizabeth made a Hail Mary play. They booted the ball from way outside the Westfield box. It flew over the heads of defenders and into the top left corner of the goal. A miracle that once again brought the game inside one score.
It suddenly put pressure on the Blue Devils. Schmidt said, “Learning how to finish games is going to be a lesson for this team after today, you know, when nothing’s going on and all of a sudden, they get one random goal. All of a sudden, now it’s a fight for the last five minutes of the game.”
Schmidt said that, even after the county tournament loss to end Westfield’s unbeaten streak, “everybody wants to beat Westfield. So other teams might smell blood in the water.”
In preparation for their North 2, Group 4 Sectional Tournament run, Cadigan feels that repetition is key. “I think that practice and keeping up the intensity, like we would play in a game, making sure we’re communicating with each other and really attacking any weaknesses we have on the field.”
The outcome of yesterday’s game resonated the most with the seniors who have been there for the outstanding stretch of the past few years. Schmidt said, “It’s great for the seniors. I think the senior class is what, 49-1-5. And the last three years [were] kind of ridiculous. So, you know, you can’t say you deserve to be in the county finals. I know they would love to be in the county finals but to rebound against this team that only has two losses all year [is] a big win for us. I think it puts us first in sectionals right now, so awesome.”
Westfield will face Cranford away at 4 p.m. on Friday for their chance to finalize their sectional seed.
