Through the first half of the regular season and a slew of tough opposition, the West Genesee girls lacrosse team had stood up to them all, earning the no. 2 spot in the state Class A rankings right behind Christian Brothers Academy, its expected challenger for Section III supremacy.
Only in the Wildcats’ ninth game did someone manage to top them – and it was Garden City, the Long Island powerhouse, who did so, kicking off a two-game Central New York tour last Monday afternoon by relying on dominance in the draw-control circle to prevail by a 9-6 margin.
Having beaten Skaneateles 9-5 two nights earlier, WG knew quite well the challenge that Garden City provided. The Trojans have won more state championships than any other girls lacrosse program – 13, including seven in a row from 2006 to 2012. WG has the second-most state titles with seven.
What’s more, Garden City, the state’s no. 6-ranked Class B team, remembered that it had lost to the Wildcats 12-11 in its last trip to Camillus in 2014, and were bent on a different outcome – which it got, mostly thanks to the duo of Katie Muldoon and Kerry Defilese.
In all, the game had 15 draw controls. Garden City won 12 of them, often with Muldoon swinging the ball over to Defilese, who with perfect timing out-jumped whichever Wildcats player was nearest the ball to grab possession.
And with all of that possession time, the Trojans quickly erased WG’s early 2-1 advantage, with Muldoon pouring in four goals in the first half (she finished with five) as part of a 7-1 run that created an 8-3 halftime advantage.
To its credit, the Wildcats, facing, by far, its largest deficit of the season, didn’t fold, its defense holding Garden City to one goal in the second half as goalie Mackenzie Kittell worked her total to eight saves.
Still, WG fell short as Mackenzie Baker and Nicky Delany each scored twice, Baker adding an assist. Abby Collins and Kyra Bednarski earned the other goals, while Madisyn Kittell was kept in check, held to a single assist, the same as Eliza MacCaull.
Garden City would go on to beat Skaneateles 11-6 a day later. Meanwhile, WG stayed at home Thursday to take on Fayetteville-Manlius, the same team it beat 12-6 two weeks earlier on the Hornets’ home turf.
Now, at Mike Messere Field, the Wildcats, clearly angered at suffering any kind of defeat to any kind of opponent, took out that anger on the Hornets right from the opening draw and didn’t let up until it had crushed F-M by a 16-2 margin.
From claiming most of the draws to playing suffocating, full-field defense, WG had the type of complete performance that makes any future opponent worry. By halftime, it was 11-1, and by game’s end 10 different players had managed to find the net.
Baker, with three goals and three assists, led the charge, with Bednarski adding two goals and two assists. Delany, Madisyn Kittell and Julia Williams also had two-goal outings, with Emily Salanger, Catherine Farrell, Lauren Ferris and Cecilia Procopio joining Collins by earning single goals.
Now WG would make up the postponed early-April trip to Victor on Monday night, right before meeting Auburn on Tuesday and then facing Cicero-North Syracuse Thursday night at Bragman Stadium, less than three weeks after beating the Northstars 9-5 in Camillus on April 19.
