Westfield’s Beka Santiago, center right, slams a point-blank kick into Northampton goalkeeper Rose Katz-Berger during Monday night’s game. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
NORTHAMPTON – Like a last-second jump shot, a Hail Mary touchdown pass, or a walk-off homer in the final inning, the Westfield High School girls’ soccer team was clutch.
Westfield staved off a late push from the Blue Devils to escape Northampton with a tournament-qualifying 2-1 victory in its second-to-last game of the regular season Monday night.
Beka Santiago and Haley Mason each scored one goal to lead Westfield, and Bombers’ goalie Jules Sharon preserved the victory with some (13) key saves.
“Jules came up big,” Westfield coach Keith Saltmarsh said.
Sharon made a couple leaping grabs in the first half, made a point-blank stop early in the second half, and shut out Northampton until the 61st minute when Lily Glading-DiLorenzo scored off a nice corner kick.
Sharon avoided an even bigger moment when a Northampton penalty kick sailed high over the crossbar, and harmlessly out-of-bounds.
Her teammates spotted her an early lead.
In the fourth minute, Westfield converted a textbook give-and-go in traffic down the center of the field as Santiago dished off to Shelby Chambers, who quickly tapped it back to Santiago. Northampton’s defense was too slow to react, and Santiago scored.
Late in the first half, Mason and Katie Colapietro pressured Northampton by getting the ball into the penalty box, setting up a beautiful header from Caroline Senecal that went just high with about six minutes left.
The relentless effort paid off though.
Just a few minutes later, Mason took a pass from Kenzie Saltmarsh in between three defenders collapsing on the ball, split the defense by accelerating through the box, beat the goalie to the net, and tapped it in for a 2-0 lead.
Two goals would prove to add up to one big tournament berth.
“I couldn’t be happier,” coach Saltmarsh said. “We’re coming together, starting to peak. Collectively, we’re doing well.”
“It was a solid effort,” he added. “The girls are coming together … I’m just happy we got it done tonight, especially with a league game. Now we’ll be focused on Pittsfield, who should earn a higher seed in the (WMASS D1) tournament.”
Westfield closes out the regular season Friday against Pittsfield.
