FERGUSON NETS TWO GOALS; COYLE GOAL, 2 ASSISTS; LAM GOAL, GILFORD GOAL, MARSHALL KEY TAKEAWAY
Not deterred by a heartbreaking, overtime upset at the sticks of No. 8 St. Augustine Hermits, the Westfield High School boys lacrosse team got right down to business when it hosted the Summit Hilltoppers at Gary Kehler Stadium in Westfield on April 4. In this very defensive-minded showdown, the Hilltoppers scored first but the Blue Devils flicked in five straight goals then held on to grab a 5-3 victory.
There were a number of key saves by both goalkeepers – Blue Devil Corey Gilford (7 saves), Hilltopper Rob Kievit (8 saves) – and a few timely takeaways, especially from Blue Devil defensive midfielder/cocaptain Mike Marshall (4 ground balls).
“Yes! This is always a tough game no matter what,” Blue Devil Head Coach Boomer Wertheimer expressed. “I say to the boys going out is our goal is to score 10 to win. But if you are playing Summit, it’s going to be a 6-4, 6-5 game. So for us to win, it’s going to be low scoring, strong on the defensive end and that’s what we did. It was all our defense from Marshall into goal. They all did a great job holding a strong, strong Summit team to three goals and then our offense making long possessions and finishing with opportunities.”
Another key factor would be winning the face-offs and Blue Devil senior Josh Caramagno ended up with a 7-5 edge on Summit’s Jay Welkis. It was especially important when Caramagno won four of those faceoffs in the final quarter. Ground balls also played an important role. Junior long stick middie Drew Pravlik and sophomore defender Ben Seward each had two and senior defender Jack Paris scooped three of them. The last one virtually sealed the deal when Paris made a takeaway with just 20 seconds remaining in the game.
“Jack Paris! Ben Seward, Drew Pravlik, Mike Marshall and in goal Gilford, all did a fantastic job,” said Coach Wertheimer, who added, “We had a tough game on Tuesday against St. Augustine and it was a long bus ride. My coaching staff got right on tape, started watching things about Summit and by the time we had on that two and one-half hour bus ride, we had a practice plan on how we were going to execute today. And we executed!”
Junior attacker Garrett Ferguson, who netted four goals in the loss to St. Augustine, finished with two goals and a ground ball. Junior attacker Colin Coyle fired in one goal and dished out two assists. Senior attacker Cody Lam put in one goal and added a ground ball. Junior midfielder Christian Gilford scored once and junior midfielder Will Gerne had an assist. Senior midfielder Sean McCeney scored the first goal for Summit then sophomore midfielder Quinn Hynes and sophomore attacker Jim Grainger scored respective goals in the final half of the fourth quarter. Senior attacker Dan Flaim had an assist.
Both teams stuck to a strategy of carefully working the ball around to find a proper opening. Finally with 5:48 left in the first quarter, McCeney on an assist from Flaim, flicked the ball past Gilford. Each keeper would make two saves in the quarter.
Lam nearly scored less than two minutes into the second quarter on a right-side slant shot but Kievit made the save. Kievit added another nice knock away midway through the quarter then Coyle made good on a leftside slant shot to knot the score with 4:26 left in the half. Summit attempted to answer but Paris thwarted their momentum with a takeaway. During that quarter, the Blue Devils did make a few unfortunate passes that got back into the Hilltoppers’ possession.
With the score deadlocked, 1-1, three minutes into the third quarter, the Hilltoppers had control for the majority of that time and were threatening to score. But Marshall jarred the ball loose, scooped the ball and fired down field; then in a span of seven seconds, Ferguson found the opening and gave the Blue Devils a 2-1 lead with 8:58 left in the quarter. That sudden turn of events seemed to take the wind out of the Hilltoppers’ sails.
After some jockeying for possession, Pravlik made a key takeaway with 2:15 on the clock. Coyle from behind the Summit net, did a quick pitch to Gilford, who slammed one home for a 3-1 lead with 49 seconds left in the quarter.
Less than two minutes into the fourth quarter (10:24 on the clock), Coyle did it again from behind the net, this time setting up Ferguson for his second goal and a 4-1 lead. Three minutes later, Lam pulled off a wraparound stuff from the right side and the Blue Devils had seized a rare 5-1 lead over the Hilltoppers.
“Summit has a really good zone and they’ve done it for years and it’s just a lot of motion and getting everyone involved. No one can be still with the offense we have to run there. To set up a goal, it’s going to be passing and assist,” Coach Wertheimer explained.
Rarely, if ever, have the Blue Devils taken a four-point lead over the Hilltoppers.
Coach Wertheimer commented, “I will have to go and look back at the tapes and all the old games. We have beaten them in the past and it’s always been close. They are and incredibly coached program!”
The Hilltoppers, however, did not wave the white flag. With 6:54 remaining, Hynes ripped one in from the left side. The Westfield defense held off the Hilltoppers for nearly five minutes but Grainger made good on a sidearm shot to close the gap to 5-3 with 2:12 showing. Summit kept pressuring then with 20 seconds left in the game, Paris sealed victory with his takeaway.
The setback to St. Augustine was indeed a heartbreaker but the Blue Devils recovered well.
Coach Wertheimer answered, “It was! It was very tough, coming off a rainy day. They are a very strong team. It’s just our schedule. We had some teams that we couldn’t pick up this year. We picked up St. Augustine and Don Bosco. This is probably the toughest schedule in the state but if we executed like we did today, we will be fine.”
Summit 1 0 0 2 3 Westfield 0 1 2 2 5
