24 seconds left in the game.
Marshall also felt very comfortable with his fellow middies and defenders Jack Paris (3 ground balls), Steve Csorba (2 ground balls), Bill Gerne (2 goals, 2 ground balls), Angelo (assist, ground ball), Ben Seward and Gavin LaConti, among others.
“I trust this defense. For me personally, I’ve never been able to trust any defense better than I can trust this one. I know one side, my two side at all times are always talking to me. Getting verbal, so I’m comfortable doing what I have to do. They have my back at all times. It makes it so easy to play with them,” Marshall explained.
The game was far from a stroll in the park, especially since the Green Wave won seven of the eight faceoffs in the first half and seven of 10 in the second half, so it was up to the scooping abilities of Westfield to recover possession. At one particular point, there was big scramble where Paris snatched the ball, it was washed away by several oncoming Green Waves, then Marshall snagged it only to have it ejected way up in the air. But in the end, it got back to Paris.
“I saw that I was going to go out of bounds and I noticed that there were four players on me. It was me and Paris and four Delbarton players, so I had a feeling that if I just tossed it backwards, it would go to one of my guys. Got a little lucky but I had a feeling that it would go to one of our guys,” Marshall described.
Delbarton scored within the first four seconds of the game when faceoff specialist Ryan Trafford (2 goals, 12 of 14 face-offs) scooped the ball and whipped in the first goal. With 4:32 left in the first quarter, junior attacker Colin Coyle (2 goals, assist) curled around from behind the net and struck gold to knot the score. Trafford answered two minutes later on Willy Doyle’s (goal, 2 assists) assist to put the Green Wave in front 2-1.
A little bit more than two minutes into the second quarter Delbarton grabbed a 3-1 lead when Jack Sartorius assisted Luke Campbell on a goal. Three minutes later, Coyle did another wraparound and pulled off a diving shot into the net for an apparent goal but it was negated. However with 5:05 on the clock, Paris scooped a ground ball and the Blue Devils would eventually cash in when Gerne stuffed one in. With just four seconds left in the half, Coyle fired in a sidearm shot to knot the score.
On his two goals, Coyle recalled, “The first one, coach called a play and the kid was overplaying, so I just decided to take him. The second one we were coming from behind and it wasn’t really there. I think Billy (Gerne) swung it up top for Chris (Gilford). There was like five seconds left and I just took it to the rack and scored.”
Westfield got the drop on Delbarton in the third quarter when Coyle assisted Gilford on his pointblank goal with 9:08 showing. In less than a minute, Delbarton’s Bobby Cusimano shuffled in a goal. With 6:11 on the clock, Sartorius on Doyle’s assist, put the Wave on top, 5-4. With a few minutes remaining, Coyle pulled off another diving goal but it was also negated.
Coyle commented, “The two that I could have had, I thought that you could do that, honestly when I was in the crease.”
With 20 seconds left in the quarter, Lam came around from the left side, and flicked in a left handed shot to tie the game at 5-5.
Early in the fourth quarter with 9:44 on the clock, Gerne notched his second goal. With 6:41 left, Sartorius assisted Doyle to tie the score, 6-6, setting the stage for the impressive Blue Devils’ response.
The Blue Devils have developed plenty of individuals, who have been able to find the net. On that offensive fire power, Coyle said, “The past two years, we were super patient, listening to the coach and we shoot well. We are not just forcing the first shot. We are looking for the best shot.”
