It was history for West Genesee lacrosse – but not in the manner to which it is accustomed.
When the Section III Class A championships were settled at the Carrier Dome – the boys last Saturday, the girls on Tuesday afternoon – neither of the Wildcats’ squads were a part of it, something rarely seen in the modern era.
Both the WG boys and girls seasons ended in last Thursday night’s sectional semifinals. At Bragman Stadium, the boys Wildcats dropped its third one-goal decision to rival Fayetteville-Manlius in a 10-9 classic.
Hours later, at Chittenango High School, WG’s state no. 3-ranked girls side met the same fate, falling behind Cicero-North Syracuse and unable to make it all the way back as it fell to the Northstars 10-8.
The latest boys lacrosse epic between WG and F-M was set up by last Tuesday’s quarterfinals, which were one-sided affairs where F-M ripped Utica Proctor 26-0 and WG had a similar experience against no. 6 seed Rome Free Academy, cruising to an 18-2 win over the Black Knights.
With a steady attack and defense that never let RFA get on the board until the second half, the Wildcats built an 11-0 edge, continuing to pull further away as Matt McDonald and Mike Linton both had three goals, with McDonald also contributing three assists.
In all, 16 different Wildcat players earned at least one point. Tyler Shoults and Jack Howes both scored twice, with Kevin Sheehan, Conor Bartlett and Jay Considine each getting one goal and one assist. Jordan Long and Christian Freeman had goals as assists went to Ryan Smith, John Bergan, Tyler Palmer, Tom Baker and Ryan McDonald.
None of this remotely resembled what would happen to the Wildcats against F-M two nights later. Everyone, on both sides, anticipated another tense playoff thriller, but could not have foreseen the wild mood swings, especially in the second half.
WG shut out the Hornets in the first quarter, but only led, 1-0, and when it tried to take control in the second period, twice taking two-goal leads of 3-1 and 4-2, F-M answered back and pulled even.
Though Spencer McNamara’s goal 1:17 before halftime gave the Wildcats a 5-4 edge at the break, the Hornets didn’t get rattled. Instead, it shut out WG in the third quarter and, with four straight goals, sprinted to an 8-5 lead.
Even when Shoults broke a drought of more than 15 minutes when he converted with 9:38 left, WG still trailed, 9-6, when, thwarting F-M’s attempts to run out the clock, it used a 66-second, three-goal outburst to pull even again, 9-9.
Howes got it started with his goal with 3:21 left. Just 25 seconds later, Bartlett made it 9-8, and when Ryan Smith beat Ryan Boshart for the tying goal with 2:15 to play, fans on both sides anticipated that the Wildcats were about to hand F-M yet another post-season heartbreak.
Somehow, the Hornets stomached all this, won the ensuing face-off and, 34 seconds following Smith’s tying goal, regained the lead when Tyler Papa put it past Ryan Mavretish. In the final minute, the Wildcats had a chance to force overtime, but a last-second stop by Boshart allowed F-M to burn the remaining clock and advance to the final against top seed Baldwinsville, who blasted Syracuse 16-5 in the other semifinal.
Dark as that was, at least the boys Wildcats had faced struggles all season. That wasn’t the case for the West Genesee girls, who had beaten C-NS twice in the regular season by 9-5 margins, the second of which came after the Northstars led 5-2 at one point late in the first half.
Thus, when C-NS took a pair of early leads, no one was too worried, especially after back-to-back goals by Kyra Bednarski and Nicky Delany erased the Northstars’ 3-1 edge late in the first half.
Yet the Northstars had learned from its previous encounters and made the game’s most critical run before halftime, netting three straight goals to seize a 6-3 lead. More importantly, a physical, experienced C-NS defense had figured out how to deal with WG’s deep group of forwards.
During the second half, that defense made sure no comeback took place. Three different times, the Wildcats pulled within two, and when Meager converted with 11:11 left to cut the Northstars’ lead to 9-7, WG fans anticipated a decisive surge.
Instead, C-NS regained possession and patiently worked down the clock until scoring with two minutes left. Though Madisyn Kittell offered up a goal with 43 seconds to play, the Northstars were able to run out the clock and earn a finals date with state no. 1-ranked CBA.
