If any single game, or any single sequence, illustrated the rare situation the West Genesee boys lacrosse team found itself in, it came during the fourth quarter of last Monday afternoon’s 16-9 defeat at Baldwinsville.
Outplayed throughout the first half, the Wildcats had, through its own hard work and mistakes from the Bees, pulled back within range, only trailing 11-8, and at the start of the final period had possession of the ball for nearly four minutes, ample time to make up the rest of the ground.
But it didn’t happen. Chance after chance was squandered, either with shots that flew wide or those that were grabbed by B’ville goalie Riley Smith.
And though Kevin Sheehan cut the deficit to two with 8:03 left, Ryan Gebhardt answered with a strong charge to the net and a one-handed shot past Ryan Mavretisth barely a minute later, igniting a 5-0 run that ended a satisfying effort on the Bees’ part.
These same two teams had met one week earlier, at Mike Messere Field, and WG had won it, 11-8. Since that point, both the Wildcats and Bees had lost to Fayetteville-Manlius, adding to the urgency of the rematch – now on the Bees’ home grass, a far different field than the clean turf in Camillus.
B’ville played with that urgency throughout the first half, racing out to a 3-1 lead by the end of the opening period and keeping up the intensity during the second quarter, where Charlie Bertrand notched a natural hat trick and the margin doubled, to 9-3.
Deep into the third quarter, WG still trailed by half a dozen goals, but started to climb back thanks to, among other things, a turnover by Riley Smith far out of his net that Liam St. Croix converted into a goal, plus a penalty that led to Jack Howes’ man-up goal.
All of that made it 11-8, but after Sheehan’s tally, not only did the Wildcats not score again, B’ville refused to sit on that lead, adding four late goals as Gebhardt and Connor Smith joined Bertrand in scoring three times, with Cole Peters, Peter Fiorini and Dillon Darcangelo each adding two goals.
Sheehan and Tyler Shoults were the only WG players to score twice. Ryan McDonald, Matt McDonald and Manny Castro joined St. Croix and Howes with single tallie. Mavretish finished with nine saves, but Riley Smith dazzled, stopping 19 of the 28 shots he faced overall.
All of this made Wednesday’s home game against Cicero-North Syracuse far more urgent than the 9-6 victory the Wildcats attained over the Northstars on April 7. This one was close, low-scoring and tense all the way to the end – but WG held on and got a 4-3 victory.
Sound defense marked the occasion on both ends, with the Northstars kept off the scoreboard until the third quarter. With one period left, it was 4-1, but C-NS tried to make it back, seeing Riccardi score twice as Justin Griffith got the other goal and O’Brien and Drew Flack earned assists.
C-NS actually took more shots, Mavretish stopped 14 of 17 attempts to negate the 10 saves put up by Dorgan. Shoults got two of the Wildcats’ four goals, with Manny Castro and Conor Bartlett earning the others.
A much better effort was required, though, when WG made the trip to Jamesville-DeWitt to face the undefeated, state Class B no. 2-ranked Red Rams Saturday afternoon on that school’s new turf field.
Yet even with an energetic and tough performanc
e, the Wildcats lost, 11-8, to the Red Rams, who won for only the second time in the last seven meetings between the traditional powers.
That entire margin could get traced back to the first quarter, when J-D bolted to a 4-1 lead, forcing WG into a chasing mode. And it couldn’t make up ground even when it had a three-minute man advantage early in the second period due to J-D’s Jack Mulvihill having an illegal stick.
Instead, J-D made it 5-1, and though Spencer McNamara answered, WG would find its deficit grow to 7-3 by halftime and 10-5 by the start of the third quarter. WG would make a push down the stretch and cut into the margin, but not enough.
Shoults and Conor Bartlett both earned two goals, with Sheehan, McNamara, Ryan McDonald and Matt McDonald earning one goal apiece. The Rams’ top line proved difficult to contain again as Grayson Burns (four goals, one assist), Ryan Archer (three goals, two assists) and Griffin Cook (three goals, one assist) complemented each other.
With a 6-5 record, WG has a chance to get back some momentum in league games this week against Liverpool and Syracuse before going to Fayetteville-Manlius on May 10.
