For every high school boys lacrosse program in Central New York, including Baldwinsville, beating West Genesee qualifies as an ultimate achievement — only 42 opponents had done so in the 33 years Mike Messere has been coaching the Wildcats.
Well, count the Bees as the 43rd team to join this short and proud fraternity.
Standing up on defense and holding on down the stretch, B’ville beat West Genesee, 6-5, Monday afternoon at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium.
What made this win even more remarkable was that it came just three days after the Bees lost 15-10 to Fayetteville-Manlius on this same field, so there was little indication that B’ville would turn it around so quickly on the defensive side.
In their first encounter since last year’s Section III Class A final won by the Wildcats, B’ville fell behind, 2-1, but rebounded quickly in the second quarter to take a 4-3 advantage.
Maintaining a modest tempo, B’ville answered every time the Wildcats (ranked no. 2 in the nation in some polls) would convert. Late in the third period, with the game tied 5-5, Andrew Ginter flung a shot past WG goalie Steve Mahle to break the deadlock.
Shut out the rest of the way, the Bees needed to do the same to the Wildcats. Joe Cavadine, Shawn Roney and Tom Foederer anchored a back line that ran right with WG’s attackers, never giving them many open looks.
When the shots did come, Jordan Marra stopped them. Marra finished with 14 saves, two of them point-blank stops in the homestretch, and he got a stroke of fortune when another Wildcat shot banged off the post in the final minutes.
Ginter, Kevin McMahon and Billy Ward each had two goals, with Pat Mahar and Tyler Brown joining Ward in the assist column. Garrett Ryan (three goals) and Luke Cometti (two goals) accounted for all of WG’s production.
All of this was a stark contrast to the rough outing on Friday night against F-M, a game that didn’t start out with much trouble.
B’ville had a 2-0 lead less than three minutes into the game thanks to goals by Evan States and Billy Ward. And even though F-M roared back to go in front 3-2, the Bees did not get fazed by it.
They went back and forth throughout a frantically paced half. Trailing 5-3 in the second quarter, B’ville used goals by Ward, Mahar and Brown to regain the lead at 6-5 before the Hornets’ Blair Hanson tied it again.
With the game 6-6 at halftime, B’ville had every right to feel good — but that dissipated when it started committing a series of penalties early in the third quarter.
And F-M pounced. By the time the Bees could regain its composure, it had allowed three goals in a span of 36 seconds, eventually leading to a 7-1 run that even a fourth-quarter recovery could not undo.
Ward, in defeat, still managed three goals and two assists, while McMahon had four assists to go with his single tally. States scored twice, adding an assist, as at Brown, Mahar, Nick Gaworecki and Ginter had the other goals.
Even as Marra was recording 16 saves, F-M swarmed thenet, mainly Matt Taylor and Blair Hanson, who had four goals apiece as Taylor added three assists and Anthony Krizman got three goals.
Before all this, the Bees had a fun time in last Wednesday’s game against Utica Proctor, beating the Raiders 27-1 for one of the most one-sided victories in the program’s history.
Proctor, a first-year varsity team, simply got overwhelmed, as the Bees earned 18 goals in the first half and got everyone on the roster a chance to play some minutes.
Ward stayed on the field long enough to record 11 assists, to go with his three-goal hat trick. McMahon added five assists, plus two goals.
Evan States and Kevin Whitcomb led the way with five goals apiece, as Sean Tivinan matched Ward’s three-goal output. Gaworecki, Mahar and Colin Kaval each scored twice, with Ginter (three assists), Brown and A.J. Wood getting single goals.
And in between the two powerhouses, B’ville played Essex Junction, a team visiting from Vermont, and beat them 12-4 on Saturday afternoon.
States, with four goals and one assist, led an attack where Ward had two goals and four assists and Ginter found the net three times. McMahon had one goal and three assists as Brown and Joe Cavadine also scored.
With the massive win over West Genesee now in its pocket B’ville stays home Wednesday to face Nottingham before a Saturday visit to Oswego, a team off to a surprising 4-0 start.
