On Wednesday night, Westfield girls lacrosse made the short drive to ALJ, seeking revenge against county rival Kent Place School under the lights in the Union County Tournament Semifinal. Just one month ago, the team hosted KPS at Kehler, falling just short of victory in overtime. Similarly, last night’s game was constant back-and-forth action and excitement, but KPS sealed Westfield’s fate with a last-minute goal and draw control, defeating the Blue Devils 8-7.
Behind three different goal scorers, Westfield found themselves up 3-2 after the first quarter with all the momentum heading into the second. Sophomores Kate Cymbor and Eloise Murphy both capitalized on that momentum, scoring back-to-back goals, forcing a KPS timeout three minutes into the second quarter. Head coach Katie DaSilva said, “Coming into the game, we knew exactly what we needed to do and we did it. We just didn’t get the result we wanted in the end.”
After the timeout, the momentum shifted in favor of KPS as they scored three unanswered goals heading into the halftime break, tied at five.
The third quarter held little offensive action for both teams, with just three combined goals tallied after 12 minutes. Although neither team pulled away in the third quarter, it was apparent that Westfield was ready to front their defense, which created many scoring opportunities in front of the crease. Senior tri-captain and Lehigh commit Gilli Cohen said, “We’ve been preparing for their defense as it is similar to ours, which was very beneficial. We really prepared working together on offense and playing as a team.”
The fourth quarter brought more aggressive defense from both sides and back-and-forth scoring throughout. With just over six minutes left in the quarter, Cohen ripped one into the back of the net to knot the score at seven, scoring her first goal of the game. After five and a half more minutes of rock-solid defense from the Blue Devils, with just 30 seconds left in regular time, KPS found the back of the net to take the lead. KPS controlled the faceoff following the goal and held the ball for the remaining 30 seconds, securing the win and advancing to the Union County Tournament final.
There’s a lot to learn from this loss with the state tournament on the horizon. Senior tri-captain and Tufts commit Maeve Wojcik said, “We need to work on staying calm under pressure. There were a few possessions where we got flustered, and the possession just didn’t go our way. Having a calmer presence on the field is going to make us less beatable going forward.”
The Blue Devils are back at home against Morristown on May 12 at 5:30 PM. They aim to finish the regular season out on a high note before heading into states.
