Nothing less than a clash of champions was on the menu when West Genesee and Christian Brothers Academy’s girls lacrosse teams gathered on a chilly, wet Tuesday night at Alibrandi Stadium.
And despite the adverse elements, the Wildcats and Brothers put on a terrific effort, each side with chances to pull it out until WG inched ahead in the late stages and held on for a 10-9 victory.
Any contest between, on one side, a five-time defending Section III Class A champion and, on the other side, the reigning state Class C champions, with rosters teeming with talent and skill, was bound to be memorable.
Yet unlike their 2011 encounter (an easy win for the Wildcats at home in Camillus), this one would be in doubt from the outset. CBA, fresh off a big 9-7 win over Skaneateles on April 7, raced to a 3-1 lead on the strength of goals by Kara Dell’uomo, Michelle Wiese and Caroline Webster.
In the middle of the first half, though, WG took charge with a 6-0 run, including three straight goals where Emily Tripodi, working from the back of the net, fed to the middle, where Erica Geremia scored twice and Riley Donahue also converted.
By the time it was 7-3, CBA coach Doug Sedgwick called a time-out, and made a defensive switch. He put two of his best players, Wiese and Webster, in the back – Wiese to follow Tripodi, Webster to track Geremia. It worked as, from that point forward, the Wildcats’ attack was far less proficient.
Taylor Poplawski and Marisa Romeo scored late in the half, making it 7-5 at the break. After an exchange of goals early in the second half, the Brothers charged again, pulling within one on Poplawski’s second goal and tying it, 8-8, on Webster’s goal with 12:07 left, fed by Romeo.
The game ultimately turned on a sequence a few minutes later. Racciatti had a free-position shot to give CBA the lead, but Wildcat goalie Andrea Francisco stopped it, igniting a fast break that ended when Geremia beat Courtney Henderson for the go-ahead goal with 7:59 left.
Just after WG forced the Brothers into a turnover on a player-control foul (the third time it had done so on the night), Kara Datellas found the net with 2:48 left.
It proved to be the game-winner. Just 24 seconds after Datellas scored, Poplawski made a spectacular charge to the net and put in a lunging goal to cut the margin to one, but Meg Hannan’s shot to tie it with a minute left got deflected into Francisco’s stick, and the Wildcats managed to run out the clock.
