FERGUSON 4 GOALS, LAM 3 GOALS, COYLE GOAL, 3 ASST
Dominance in winning the faceoffs and a defense that just kept getting stronger and stronger placed the second-seeded, No. 8 Westfield High School boys lacrosse team in the driver’s seat during the quarterfinal round of the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 Playoffs at Gary Kehler Stadium in Westfield on May 30. After yielding a pair of goals in the first quarter, the Blue Devils allowed just one goal each in the second and third quarters then shut out the Raiders in the fourth to claim a 10-4 victory.
Beginning with the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Raiders on April 23, the Blue Devils’ defense have had somewhat slow starts and found themselves trailing after the first quarter in six of seven games until they turned it around in a win over the Ridge Red Devils and a total thrashing of Bergen Tech in the Section 2 first round. This time, the 12-5 Blue Devils led the 6-12 Hillsborough Raiders, 4-2, after the first quarter and their defense only got nastier for the remainder of the game.
“Kids will be kids! That’s all I can say. Sometimes we are there, sometimes we are not. If you could tell me I could read the kids’ minds, we would be millionaires,” Blue Devil Head Coach Boomer Wertheimer expressed.
Junior attacker Garrett Ferguson (ground ball) netted four goals and three of them came in the first quarter. Junior attacker Colin Coyle (ground ball) scored a first-quarter goal and dished out three assists – a few that were directed to Ferguson. Senior attacker/co-captain Cody Lam flicked in three goals and added an assist. Senior midfielder/co-captain Mike Marshall scored once and scooped four ground balls. Junior Billie Gerne scored once and scooped a pair of ground balls.
“The different offenses we run. It’s off the pick game. Some of them draw the right match-ups. It depends on the match-up they get from tapes we watch,” Coach Wertheimer explained.
The dominance in the face-offs was a result of senior Josh Caramagno winning 13 of 18 face-offs and scooping six ground balls. The defenders also got into the act of rejecting Hillsborough’s aggression by allowing very few opportunities for the Raiders to get off a clear shot. Ben Seward scooped five ground balls, Steve Csorba had four ground balls and Luke Spaide had three ground balls. Co-captains Dan McGann and Jack Paris, Drew Pravlik, Evan Alvarez and Jack Clark, along with goalkeeper Corey Gilford (10 saves) all scooped a ground ball.
Ferguson and Coyle scored early and Hillsborough’s Jack Minetti scored once to put the Blue Devils in front, 2-1. with 7:34 left in the first quarter. Two minutes later, Ferguson slammed in his second goal. The Raiders got on the move and Caden Walinsky made good on a jump shot with 3:52 showing. Ferguson answered a minute later on a left-side wraparound stuff.
Early in the second quarter, Hillsborough goalkeeper Matt Siegelaub (10 saves) made two key saves then with 9:32 left in the quarter, attacker Kevin Jones narrowed the score to 4-3. With 3:09 remaining in the half, Lam scored his first goal with a left-handed sidearm fling.
RaiderAidan Villano cut Westfield’s lead to one goal (5-4) when he fired one by Corey Gilford with 8:39 left in the third quarter. But the Blue Devils’ defense would slam the door and the Raiders would get no closer at all. Lam and Ferguson added goals within 30 seconds of each other to extend the lead to 7-4 by the end of the quarter.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Gerne pulled off a wraparound uppercut goal. With 4:11 remaining, Lam added another left-handed sidearm shot then with 1:28 showing, Marshall on an assist from Lam, charged forward and stuffed in the final goal.
The four Blue Devil captains, Paris, Marshall, McGann and Lam were also Westfield High School Booster Club Award recipients.
Coach Wertheimer commented, “They are very talented in the classroom as well as on the field. Those young men!”
Next would be a semifinal matchup in Westfield on June 3, with the third-seeded Bridgewater-Raritan Panthers, who defeated Hunterdon Central, 11-1, in their quarterfinal round.
“Very tough team. Well coached! Experienced coaches! We are going to go right now, the coaches and I in the film room room. Start watching them and breaking them down,” Said Coach Wertheimer, who added, “They are end of the season rivals. Them, Ridgewood, Hunterdon Central, before they changed division, Ridge, and Montclair. Those five teams and ourselves, you know it’s going to be a battle.”
Hillsborough 2 1 1 0 4 Westfield 4 1 2 3 10
