Head coach Eric Shaw told his team that “one moment was going to make a difference” during the Westfield boys soccer matchup. It is safe to say, he was right.
The fans kept rolling in after the first whistle blew in the Union County Tournament semifinal between Westfield and Summit on Saturday night, hosted by Arthur L. Johnson High School in Clark. Many students came to support the Blue Devils in hopes of them making it to the finals, just like they did last year.
Summit came out strong in the first half with multiple promising opportunities; however, they were not able to successfully finish any of their chances. One counterattack was shot wide into the outside of the netting and another dangerous play from Summit was called offside. Senior goalkeeper Michael Liebermann was able to keep the Hilltoppers scoreless throughout the entire 80 minutes with help from the strong central defenders, Noah Fischer and Drew Kornfeld. This combination of players fought hard to earn their ninth shutout of the season. Liebermann said, “[the defense] all did it together, we’re a unit, and that’s what it’s been all season.”
The Blue Devils were having trouble moving forward and created little chances for themselves in the first half. In the second half, however, Westfield found itself to be more of a threat up top. With a little over 17 minutes left in the second half, senior Anthony Buoscio took advantage of Summit’s goalkeeper being far out of position. He headed the ball just wide of the net, and the energy of Westfield’s offense increased.
By the 70th minute, Westfield was fired up. Junior Emanuel Gayanilo used his speed to push past Summit’s defense where he was able to earn a corner for the Blue Devils. The short corner taken by junior David Savransky to junior Zachary Preucil who gave it back to Savransky for a service into the box led to another almost goal. Fischer was able to get his head on it, but the ball went wide of the goal. Westfield was reluctant to give up.
A couple minutes later, junior Benedict Nematadzira had the ball on the right side of the field. From a distance, after chopping around the defender, he sent the ball into the box where Gayanilo was ready to ensure the ball would find the back of the net. He tapped it right over Summit’s goalkeeper, giving Westfield a 1-0 lead with just over eight minutes left in the game. The team, the coaches and the crowd erupted into cheers. Nematadzira said, “We were struggling a little bit, and I was glad I was able to help.”
Both sides kept their intensity throughout the game, with many dirty plays and tense moments. In the first half, Summit received its first yellow card of the day after a foul against senior Ryan Bertsch. Summit ended the game with three yellow cards and Westfield ended with two.
Next week will be a big week for the Blue Devils as they will take on Elizabeth, whom the Blue Devils beat 1-0 in their first game of the season, for the county championship.
