Even though it stayed unbeaten, the West Genesee girls lacrosse team dropped out of the top spot in the state Class A rankings, replaced by St. Anthony’s (Long Island), who has beaten top opponents from six different states.

The Wildcats can’t match that sort of resume, but it still has swept all of the possible Section III Class A challengers in the regular season, and only had a couple of serious tests left before the playoffs got underway.

One of them was on Saturday afternoon, against yet another Section V foe, Honeoye Falls-Lima, a state Class C finalist a year ago and no. 7 in the current state rankings.

Like Canandaigua, Pittsford and Penfield before them, HF-L put a scare into the Wildcats – but like them, the Cougars could not quite pull off the victory, WG holding on to win 8-7.

Employing the strategy that so many others had used, HF-L took its time whenever it had the ball on offense, figuring that it was the best way to keep the Wildcats off the board.

That didn’t quite work, though, as WG still forged a 3-2 halftime lead, and every time the Cougars would convert, the Wildcats provided an answer as the pace quickened in the second half.

As time ran low, HF-L pulled within one, but in those waning minutes the Wildcats picked up the ball and never let the Cougars have it again, using its vaunted possession game to put away another nail-biter.

Hannah Elmer paced the modest attack with two goals, including what turned out to be the game-winner, along with two assists. Riley Donahue had a three-goal hat trick as Alia Hildebrandt put up two goals and one assist. Michaela Ciciarelli had the other goal.

That ended an otherwise routine week for the Wildcats, which started last Tuesday with a visit to Rome Free Academy and a 21-1 romp over the Black Knights.

After so many close, low-scoring affairs in recent weeks, WG was too happy to unleash its full attack, amassing a 15-0 lead by halftime and getting its entire roster some well-deserved playing time.

Ciciarelli and Jamie Martin both had three-goal hat tricks. Lindsey Rose had two goals and three assists, with Donahue, Gianna Branca and Sinead Guy each scoring twice. Elmer had a goal and three assists as Taylor Collins and Meghan Colabufo both had a goal and two assists. Melissa Moran, Dina Cavallaro, Mia DiBello and Abby Connor also scored.

Back home on Thursday night, WG took apart Central Square 18-1, only surrendering Megan Klein’s first-half goal and still bolting in front 13-1 by halftime.

Donahue, like she would do against Honeoye Falls-Lima, picked up three goals. Elmer backed up her two goals with three assists as Martin, Collins and Branca also had two-goal outings. Grace Osterdale had a goal and three assists, while Rose had a goal and two assists. Ciciarelli, Guy, Jazmin Bello and Jackie Pardee also scored.

Of WG’s three remaining regular-season games, the big highlight is Thursday night’s visit from CBA, who moved up from Class C to B this spring but, led by the likes of Marisa Romeo and Taylor Poplawski, are still expected to make a state title run.