​The boys lacrosse team had a sweeping victory against Arthur L. Johnson in Counties semi-finals with a score of 11–7 in Clark last Thursday.

In the second quarter, Westfield kept possession the majority of the time, allowing senior Abe Fertig-Cohen to score. Shortly after, ALJ responded, bringing the score to 6–2.

Fertig-Cohen said, “We were able to break up their defense which allowed for a lot of shots on goal.”

At the end of the first half, junior Matt Webb had several opportunities but ultimately wasn’t able to score. The first half ended with a score of 7–2.

Webb said, “[The team] needs to take advantage of opportunities and play to our best potential.”

ALJ started out the second half strong and had several shots on goal, but senior goalie Alex McHugh was able to save them.

After a save, McHugh passed the ball to DeVita, who then scored his third goal of the game, but ALJ quickly countered by scoring.

After another ALJ goal, Coach Marc Silbergeld called a timeout to talk to his players. Silbergeld said, “We really tried to stick to our game plan, control possession of the ball and be patient.”

The game ended with a final score of 11–7 and allowed WHS to advance to the Union County Championship against Summit.

After the win on Thursday, senior Chris Gerckens said, “We minimized our mental mistakes and executed all the little things that have held us back in the past few games.”

He added that they need to “keep composure because if we are too excited, we make [the kind of] errors which killed us last time.”

In the Union County Championship on Saturday, however, the Blue Devils went on to lose with a final score of 12–1.

Silbergeld said, “We hope to win our last two regular season [games] and get hot for the playoffs, where anything can happen.”

The team’s next game is home today against Pingry at 4 p.m.

Additional reporting by Rebecca Harris.