Blame Anthony Restante for the West Genesee boys soccer team’s inability to reach its first Section III Class AA final since 2002.

Restante’s hat trick pushed top seed Fayetteville-Manlius past the no. 5 seed Wildcats 3-1 in last Wednesday’s Class AA semifinals at Liverpool High School.

WG had a lot of reasons to feel good about facing F-M, despite the Hornets’ state no. 2 ranking, vast experience and long history of playoff success (22 sectional championships, more than any other school).

The Wildcats had shown aggression and poise in handling CBA 2-0 in the AA quarterfinals on Oct. 28. What’s more, it had nearly beaten F-M in their Sept. 20 meeting in Camillus, the Hornets needing two late goals by Haile Marr – one in regulation, the other in overtime – to prevail 2-1.

So WG thought it could knock the Hornets off – but F-M, not willing to wait this time around, took charge in the early minutes.

Just 5:23 into the game, Marr possessed the ball in the middle and was double-teamed. This allowed Restante to break open on the right, Marr passing to him and Restante, in one motion, crushing a shot past Dylan Condon into the net.

For the rest of the half, it stayed 1-0. Constantly on the defensive, the Wildcats kept it close as Cody Faulkner, Kyle Golonski, Jake Levine, Anthony Payne and Kyle Burke broke up a long series of F-M opportunities.

All that changed 1:36 into the second half. Again, Restante broke open on the right and took a pass from the middle, this time from Joe Mahr, and once more Restante converted with a strong shot that fit just inside the right post.

Not even two minutes later, Restante made a solo run, weaving around WG’s defenders and beating Condon to complete the hat trick. Though Jake Sutherland would answer with a goal within 30 seconds, the Wildcats would not get closer.

WG finished its season at 12-7, a vast turnaround under coach Al Loucks following years of poor performances. Though 10 seniors depart, including Faulkner, Levine, Payne, Golonski, Bojan Topalovic and Logan Dirk, many stars are back for 2011, including Sutherland, Condon, Burke, Stefanos Stamoulacatos, Ryan Tinklepaugh Kevin Fucillo and Tim Ritch.