WILLIAMS, IANNUZZI, ‘BENE’, PIERCE SCORE GOALS

“Senior Day” worked out very well for the Westfield High School boys soccer team when it hosted the Linden Tigers at Gary Kehler Stadium in Westfield on September 28. The 5-21 Blue Devils scored twice in the first half and twice in the second half to emerge with a 4-0 shutout.

“Today was obviously a good day to have good results with Senior Day,” Blue Devil Head Coach Eric Shaw commented.

Blue Devil junior Austin Williams struck gold first less than six minutes into the game with 34:37 on the clock. A soft corner kick from the right side set up the play when co-captain Zach Preucil got the ball to Williams, who slipped the ball past Linden goalkeeper Lennox Nunez, who finished with 10 saves.

“I told my teammate Preucil that when he runs that short corner, I will put it on post and I will score. He wanted me to dummy run and I said, ‘No! Let me get it in. Give me a chance!’ Preucil put in a little cross. I got into the six-yard mark and put it past the keeper,” Williams described.

Williams also played a major role in the Blue Devils’ second goal when he attempted a cross to junior Henry Iannuzzi. Nunez lunged and tried to deflect the cross but it got to Iannuzzi, who made his run, got to the ball and scored.

“I saw my teammate make a late run in, so I didn’t try to score from there because it was wide open, an open goal. Henry! Right wing! Made a late run in. He got in on goal, beat the keeper and scored,” Williams recalled.

“We look for out outside backs to be attacking wing backs, so we want them to attack, we want them to serve balls in, we want them in dangerous areas of the field because that exposes them (Tigers). Anytime we can get those players in the final third we know we are doing something right,” Coach Shaw explained.

Three minutes into that first half, junior Ty Flannery got off a shot that was stopped by Nunez. Junior Jake Pardes ripped a shot from the right side five minutes later. But the Tigers used a run-and-gun method twice to pressure Blue Devil keeper Lucas Gunzberg, who finished with two saves in the first half.

Blue Devil Luke Tennant took over as goalkeeper in the second half and would finish with one save but the Blue Devils continued to shell the Tigers’ domain. Pardes and junior Dan DeSousa stormed the box within the first four minutes. A little later sophomore Sam Judka made a couple of crosses to DeSousa, whose shots just slid to the right. Preucil then gave Judka an opportunity but his shot was wide right. With 24 minutes remaining, co-captain Dave Savransky hooked a right side corner kick into the box resulting in a defensive deflection.

With the clock at 17:25, forward Benedict Nematadzira looped the ball to Iannuzzi, who broke past a defender and launched a shot but it sailed over the crossbar. Then with 14:48 left, Iannuzzi returned the favor to Nematadzira, who banged one in for the third goal.

“Ben is that guy who is going to find those goals in front of the net. He looks for those loose opportunities. He’s good in the air and he deserved that goal,” Coach Shaw said.

Not satisfied, the shelling continued. Junior Niko Pierce lifted a corner kick into senior Adam Tukaczynski, whose header was deflected.

Savransky took the next corner and tapped a soft cross to set up a play that was knocked out of bounds to set up another corner kick that Iannuzzi took from the right side.

Then finally with 6:20 remaining, Nematadzira slid a right-to-left cross just outside the middle of the box where Pierce took control and drilled one home to up the score to 4-0.

Coach Shaw commented, “Niko scored from about 20 yards out. That’s what we tell the boys is what we call the vital area. We took chances. He was a little hesitant to pull it off but once he did, he hit a good quality chance and put it on frame.”

Williams, Iannuzzi and Nematadzira all finished with a goal and an assist. Pierce had one goal and Preucil finished with an assist.

What has been noticed was the increased competition in Union County. Instead of domination by the big three – Westfield, Elizabeth and Scotch Plains-Fanwood – the Union Farmers jumped into the mix and has been ranked No 8 after defeating Westfield, Elizabeth and the Raiders. Rahway (6-1) just beat the Raiders and its only loss was to the Farmers. The AL Johnson Crusaders have boasted an 8-0 record and the New Providence Pioneers recently tied the Farmers.

In their 1-0 loss to the Farmers, the Blue Devils worked a number of set plays and controlled the ball the majority of the game but one quick score decided the outcome.

“Union we knew had quality coming into the year with a lot of returners. That’s what we’ve kind of expected. If you look at that match, we had a lot of good situations, good moments to score. We were just unlucky and I think their goalkeeper was the man to match in that game. Obviously we got to do better in transition moments and not letting them counter us. They scored a long goal and beat us. They know how we work the ball. We just were not good enough in front and their goalkeeper was a little bit better,” Coach Shaw said.

The Blue Devils would face the Raiders at Red Bull Arena on October 4.

“We haven’t played Scotch Plains yet. We play them next week, which is a tough challenge,” Coach Shaw said.