SPORTS

Boys lacrosse: Westfield headed back to UCT final

Lauren Knego

@laurenknego

CLARK - The Westfield High School boys lacrosse team is heading back to the Union County Tournament final.

The second-seeded Blue Devils rallied to beat third-seeded New Providence 9-5 in the semifinals on Thursday at A.L. Johnson High School. Westfield, the defending champion, will face top-seeded Summit, which defeated No. 4 Scotch Plains-Fanwood, 8-2, in the final on Saturday night.

"I think really it comes down to, it was really halftime adjustments, you can't go in and think you can do the same thing," said Westfield's Jake Wornow, who finished with a hat trick. "You really have to know, coaches have to know, what to do and what's going on, so they pulled us together, they really settled us down, no one was panicking. The chemistry was really there for us, and I think us working together, finding the open spots is really what got it done."

Westfield's Jake Wornow (43) scored on this shot against New Providence in the Union County lacrosse tournament semifinals at AL Johnson Regional High School in Clark on May 5, 2016.

Westfield (6-8) got off to a slow start and trailed the Pioneers 3-2 with 1:24 left in the first half. With four seconds remaining, Nick Bond scored and the game went to halftime tied 3-3.

MORE: GIRLS LACROSSE ROUNDUP FOR THURSDAY, MAY 5.

Wornow gave Westfield its first lead of the game with 9:01 remaining in the third quarter, and Blake Taylor scored his second of the day on an assist from Brandon Leuthold two minutes into the fourth quarter to put the Blue Devils ahead 5-3.

"We haven't been strong against zones all year so we knew they were going to throw a zone at us, in practice we've been working on it," Wornow said. "All the seniors stepped up, we made some really big halftime adjustments as we were really struggling in the beginning. The coaches pulled us together, no one turned on each other, we all stepped up, started realizing what they were doing, where the open spots were, starting going backside, getting crease looks, everything started flowing."

John Slater scored his second of the game less than a minute later to pull the Pioneers within one, 5-4, but the Blue Devils started streaking and scored three goals in 24 seconds to take an 8-4 lead with 7:25 to play.

Wornow scored his third goal with 2:54 remaining for a 9-4 advantage, and the Pioneers' Quinn Killeen scored on an assist from Jack Barletta with 22.9 seconds to play for the 9-5 final.

New Providence (10-4) had a six game win streak snapped with the loss. The Blue Devils will get another shot at the Hilltoppers after falling to them 8-5 back on April 14. Westfield defeated Summit in triple overtime in last year's final to win its first UCT title since 2007.

"We're pumped, we want to get Summit back, we lost to them the first time so we're hoping to get a win," Wornow said. "I think if we all stay together, work the ball, everyone stays calm, I think no one can beat us."

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego

Westfield 9, New Providence 5

GOALS: (W) Wornow 3, Taylor 2, Moriarty 2, Leuthold, Bond; (NP) Slater 2, Shahpazian, Lawton, Killeen; ASSISTS: (W) McLane, Bohlinger, Leuthold; (NP) Killeen, Barletta; SAVES: (W) Burgdorf 6; (NP) Pope 8.

THURSDAY'S BOYS LACROSSE ROUNDUP

Summit 8, Scotch Plains-Fanwood 2: Scott Nizolak and Jack Brady each recorded one goal and one assist as fourth-seeded Scotch Plains-Fanwood (10-6) fell to No. 1 Summit in the Union County Tournament semifinals. Goalie Chris Duffy made 13 saves.

Bernards 7, St. Joseph 6: Curt Goldin scored the game-winner with four seconds left to lift Bernards (10-5). He finished with two goals. Matt Tantleff finished with four goals and one assist. JP Heppes made 11 saves while coach David Brothers picked up his 200th career win. For St. Joseph (10-4), Max Bischoff scored five goals. Garrett Klurman added one goal and one assist.

Delaware Valley 18, Gill St. Bernard's 5: Jack Kastenschmidt finished with seven goals and scored his 100th career point for Delaware Valley (10-3). Joe Donnelly scored eight goals. Matt Donnelly added five goals and one assist. Joe Cansfield chipped in two goals and two assists. For Gill St. Bernard's (7-3), Nick Cooper and Michael DelPriore each scored twice. Cameron Burns added two assists.