Again, West Genesee’s lacrosse teams enter the Section III playoffs fully expecting to finish with two more championships to add to the winning tradition.
Leading up to the post-season, the girls Wildcats, in particular, made two strong statements, starting last Monday with its 21-4 victory over the Syracuse city squad.
In its first combined season under long-time coach Dennis Kennedy, Syracuse had built an 8-6 record, were riding a three-game win streak and had clinched a playoff berth.
All of this got WG’s attention, and in a first-half blitz the Wildcats were merciless, running right past Syracuse as it built a 14-2 lead.
By game’s end, 13 different Wildcats had scored, as Liz LaComb led with four goals, with Mary Maestri and Alia Hildebrandt each scoring three times.
Emily Tripodi, Shannon Hawley and Erica Geremia each had three assists, with Hawley joining Kara Datellas and Riley Donahue as they got two goals apiece. Geremia, Shelby Milne, Madison Huegel, Nicole Bello, Haley Rose, Olivia Wolfram and Jamie Martin each scored, too.
This led to Wednesday’s regular-season finale against Fayetteville-Manlius, with whom the Wildcats had enjoyed so many memorable battles over the years. This was not quite one of them, but WG gladly took a 16-9 victory over the Hornets.
Unlike the 16-4 decision on April 4 where WG roared out to an 11-1 halftime lead, F-M had a better start here, recording some defensive stops, but not taking full advantage of them.
Thus, the Wildcats took a 7-3 lead to the break, and as the production picked up in the latter stages, WG got away as Geremia took the lead, pouring in five goals and one assist.
Hawley got three goals, with Tripodi managing two goals and three assists. LaComb and Hannah Elmer also scored twice as Donahue and Maestri earned the other goals and Bello produced a pair of assists.
As this went on, West Genesee’s boys lacrosse team played just once, concluding a 15-1 regular season by going to Corcoran last Tuesday and smashing the Cougars by a 14-1 margin.
Far removed from its recent vintage as an annual title contender, Corcoran, at 4-10, offered little resistance. WG steadily built a 6-0 halftime lead and kept pulling further away.
Matt Schattner had four goals and one assist, with Tim Barber adding two goals and three assists. Andrew Brown stepped up for three goals and two assists as Dan Ginestro got a goal and four assists.
Jake Darrow managed a goal and two assists as Ted Glesener, R.J. Tinklepaugh and Ryan St. Croix also found the net.
Next Thursday night at 7:30, the boys Wildcats, as the top seed in Class A, host no. 8 seed Central Square in the opening round, looking to advance to Saturday’s semifinals against Baldwinsville or Cicero-North Syracuse at Bragman Stadium.
As for WG’s girls, also a top seed, it is also idle until next Thursday, when it will play either no. 4 seed F-M or no. 5 seed C-NS in the Class A semifinal at 5 p.m. at CBA’s Alibrandi Stadium.
