Though a new season was underway, West Genesee girls lacrosse coach Bob Elmer was again accepting congratulations.
And it had little to do with Wednesday night’s first game of the 2015 campaign, where the defending state Class A champion Wildcats put together a 12-7 victory over long-time rival Baldwinsville on the turf at Fayetteville-Manlius.
Earlier in the day, Elmer received the news that his daughter, Beth, had given birth to her first child, a girl. So Bob was now a grandfather, another reason to celebrate in a family that has done plenty of that in the last decade and a half.
Since 2001, WG has won seven state titles – exactly half of the 14 handed out. And the 2014 title, earned last June in a 15-10 decision over West Islip, carried even more meaning since another of Elmer’s daughters, Morgan, was named state tournament MVP by scoring four goals and five assists in that title game.
Morgan Elmer has graduated, as has many other standouts from that Wildcat team, including Marissa Hudgins, Mia DiBello, Riley Donahue, Jackie Pardee, Liz Bova, Taylor Collins and Cailyn Negus. But enough of a strong cast is back, on all sides of the field, to make another state title within WG’s reach.
Of course, Baldwinsville is a prime challenger to the Wildcats’ throne, and did catch a small break when the uneven field conditions on WG’s turf forced the game to get moved to F-M’s turf, which was clear, despite all the snow still surrounding the field.
From the start, though, the Wildcats always had control, and it started with returning senior Grace Osterdale, who scored the season’s first goal just 50 seconds into the game.
Though B’ville’s Sara Goodwin tied it 1-1 at the 8:02 mark, Lauren Ferris answered just 29 seconds later, and the Wildcats led for good, taking charge when it netted four unanswered goals late in the half, accounting for most of its 8-3 margin at the break.
They played on even terms in the second half, but that required the Bees to get goals from Peyton Fleming and Lauren Dehm in the last four minutes after WG’s lead had grown to 12-5.
All told, Osterdale had five goals, while Mackenzie Baker produced two goals and two assists. Delaney also found the net twice as Madisyn Kittell notched a goal and two assists. Lauren Ferris and Kyra Bednarski had the other goals as Katherine Widrick had a strong season debut in the net, recording nine saves.
A night earlier, West Genesee’s boys lacrosse team, also forced out of its home, went to Nottingham and defeated Baldwinsville 14-8 in Matt Wilcox’s debut as the Bees’ head coach.
WG dominated the early face-offs, attacked hard and tore through the Bees’ defense, gathering up a 6-0 lead before the game was six minutes old, Nick Cunningham netting three of the goals.
B’ville did get on the board late in the period, but still trailed 7-1. Then it played on dead-even terms with the Wildcats the rest of the night, matching them goal-for-goal, but never able to make a sustained run to create some late suspense.
Cunningham finished with four goals, with Ryan McDonald and David Procopio each scoring three times. Mike Fletcher had a goal and four assists as Matt McDonald tacked on two goals. Manny Castro and Conor Bartlett had the other goals. Tyler Shoults and Ryan Smith had one assist apiece.
On Saturday afernoon, both of West Genesee’s teams went to F-M to face Section V opponents – and both of them would prevail.
The boys Wildcats beat Fairport 6-4, a game that saw the visiting Red Raiders take a 2-1 first-quarter lead and hold it the rest of the half, each side playing strong defense.
But Fairport’s drought continued throughout the entire third quarter, and WG went out in front, 3-2. Then the Wildcats doubled that total in the final period to make sure the Red Raiders didn’t rally.
Cunningham and Procopio each had two goals. Shoults added one goal and one assist, with Fletcher also finding the net. Ryan Mavretish had a superb game in the net, stopping 13 of the 17 Fairport shots he faced.
Then, the WG girls team faced Penfield and pulled away from the Patriots 9-3. Just like with B’ville, it was tied, 1-1, before the Wildcats went ahead for good thanks to goals from Osterdale and Kittell.
And after Penfield cut the deficit to 3-2, WG closed the half strong, Baker and Delaney both finding the net and making it 6-2 going into the break. Delaney tacked on two more goals in the second half, giving her three for the day. Baker and Kittell both finished with two goals as Lexie Meager also earned a goal.
