By Paul Vozzella
Hometown Weekly Sports Reporter
The Wolverines are bound for the Division II Final Four after a 6-5 down-to-the-wire home contest against Duxbury on Friday night.
Enduring one of the toughest Division II schedules and two solid opponents earlier in the playoffs, Westwood had arguably its toughest matchup of the season to date.
“The first round and second round games were tough (versus Tantasqua and Billerica),” head coach Margot Spartola said. “...I think that helped us with being prepared and on our toes and ready for a tough team. It was nice to have that experience earlier in the week.”
The Dragons were no stranger to Westwood, either. The Wolverines traveled to Duxbury earlier in the year and left with a 10-9 victory; a close fight was bound to be on the forefront of everyone’s minds.
Both teams took turns with drawn-out offensive possessions to start the game. Westwood was unable to score on its first turn on attack and senior goalie Kathryn Donellan halted Duxbury’s free-position shot to keep the game scoreless.
It was senior Caroline Nozzolillo that broke the scoreless affair with a free-position goal at 7:14.
Senior Kate Sullivan added on to Westwood’s lead with another goal at 10:46. By the end of the first frame, through methodical offense and stellar defense, the Wolverines had grinded their way to a 2-0 lead.
An early blunder in the second quarter led to a one-person advantage for Duxbury and it would not miss the opportunity. It took the Dragons 21 seconds to score while having the upper hand. Westwood was a repeat offender seconds later, as another penalty led to Duxbury tying the game two minutes into the quarter.
Sullivan refused to play from behind as she found the back of the net to regain the lead for Westwood. Moments later Duxbury answered, but sophomore Bridget Hughes snuck in a goal with 24 seconds left in the first half to go into the break with a 4-3 lead.
More back-and-forth action took place to start the third quarter but senior Charlotte Demaio gave Westwood as much breathing room as possible in tight competition with a free-position goal. Duxbury took several shots on goal in the rest of the quarter, but all bounced off the brick wall that was Donellan.
“The defenders and Catherine [Donellan], they've just worked so hard together to clean up the things that we've talked about: the holes, the misses, the miss-slides… They know that Catherine has their back and she knows that they're going to play the best defense they can in front of her.”
Duxbury got the best of Westwood’s stout defense 1:53 into the fourth quarter to make it a 5-4 game. Demaio scored another free-position goal to give her team a two-score lead again. Duxbury scored with a little over five minutes left, but the Wolverines were able to fend off the Dragons’ attack for the remainder of the game.
Next, Westwood will seek revenge on Walpole in a playoff rematch from last year’s Round of 8.
