Two weeks of action, two top-notch Section III Class AA opponents for the West Genesee girls lacrosse team – and two more victories that reinforced the Wildcats’ place atop the local ranks in advance of Tuesday’s key early-season showdown with Cicero-North Syracuse.
Having fought off Baldwinsville 10-7 at home on April 6, the Wildcats ventured to Fayetteville-Manlius seven days later and didn’t let things get as close here, rolling to a 12-6 victory over the Hornets.
F-M was off to a 3-0 start, but had played all of those games in the last week, including last Monday’s tough 12-9 win over Cazenovia. Meanwhile, WG was well-rested because, after beating B’ville, it saw an April 9 trip to Victor called off by the weather conditions.
It was still cold and overcast when the Wildcats took the field at F-M, but it didn’t take long for the champions to warm up. Following an early exchange of goals, Nicky Delany, Madisyn Kittell and Kyra Bednarski all converted to put WG up 4-1 before the game was five minutes old.
That set the game’s pattern. WG dominated in the draw circle, leading to lots of possession that wore the Hornets’ defenders down. At the same time, this refreshed the Wildcats’ own back line, so when it was threatened, it was able to break up most of F-M’s good opportunities and shut them out for a stretch of more than 17 minutes, leading to a 7-3 halftime lead.
Try as it could, the Hornets couldn’t make up ground. Mackenzie Kittell, continuing to establish herself in the net, made nine saves, matching Hornets counterpart Aubrey Deveau, and just two Hornets players – Mary Trop (four goals) and Amanda Cramer (two goals) – were able to find the net.
By contrast, seven different Wildcats scored, with Mackenzie Baker serving as the hub of the attack, setting a season mark with five assists to go with her lone goal.
Delany had a three-goal hat trick. Madisyn Kittell got two goals and two assists, with Lexie Meager adding two girls and one assist and Kyra Bednarski also finding the net twice. Emily Salanger and Abby Collins had the other goals.
WG went from there to roll past Auburn 22-5, settling matters early by rolling up a 14-1 first-half advantage and eventually getting most of the roster into the game to let the top players rest.
In all, 12 different Wildcats scored at least once, with Cecilia Procopio getting three goals and four assists to lead the charge. Baker had three goals and three assists, with Julia Williams also getting a three-goal hat trick.
Delaney, Salanger, Madisyn Kittell and Adrianna Nojaim each scored twice. Catherine Farrell and Lauren Ferris each got a goal and one assist, joined in the goal-scoring column by Collins, Meager and Ally Trice. Teresa Petrus picked up a pair of assists.
West Genesee’s game with C-NS begins a big week that includes a Thursday-night visit from Liverpool and, on Saturday night at 7 p.m, a trip west to face defending Section III Class C champion Skaneateles, who has early-season defeats to Suffern and Watertown after losing Kyla Sears for the season with a torn ACL.
