Rain poured down at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium for portions of Thursday night’s boys lacrosse showdown between West Genesee and Baldwinsville.
But whatever precipitation produced by nature paled next to the outpouring of effort and skill from the Wildcats as it put away the Bees 15-6, unleashing close to a year’s work of frustration produced by the opposition in red.
Getting upended by B’ville in last season’s Section III Class A final hurt enough for WG. It got worse when the Bees beat the Wildcats again 8-7 on April 17 at Mike Messere Field.
True, that previous encounter included difficult conditions (snow, wind, a slippery turf),but it left WG burning to get another crack at B’ville, and when it did, the suspense didn’t last long.
In fact, before the game was 90 seconds old, Max Rosa had found the net twice as he, along with the rest of the Wildcats’ attack, benefited from the domination of Pat Stanistreet in the face-off circle throughout the first half.
Extra possession time meant more chances for WG’s pair of front lines to tear away at a usually stout B’ville defense. Noah Sabatino, Ryan Sheehan and Anthony Datellas joined Rosa in the scoring column as the first quarter wore on.
Even when the Bees did produce something, the Wildcats answered, establishing a crucial pattern when Ryan Smith scored with 4.5 seconds left in the opening period.
During each of the first three quarters, WG would put in late goals to extend its margin. Smith and Datellas did so in the last 90 seconds of the second period, stifling any possible Bees momentum to make it 10-5 at halftime.
Then, as the third period wound down, the Wildcats put the game away with consecutive goals from Rosa, John Bergan and Jack Howes, the last of them as the clock hit zero.
All the while, WG”s defense, led by Mike McGuigan, Griffin Sass, Tom Baker and Kevin Snow, proved superb in protecting goalie Luke Staudt, who stopped 17 of the 23 shots he faced. At the same time, the Wildcats ably contained B’ville’s potent front line, especially during a series of penalty-killing situations.
In between WG’s rough effort in a 10-4 defeat to Jamesville-DeWitt on April 28 and the trip to B’ville, there was the matter of last Tuesday’s game at Cicero-North Syracuse.
The Northstars, riding its own three-game win streak, were no match for an angry Wildcats squad that prevailed 15-7, doing most of the damage early as it blanked C-NS in the first quarter and didn’t let up until it owned a 12-2 halftime advantage.
Twelve different players netted goals, with Jack Howes scoring twice and adding three assists as Datellas, Bergan and Kevin Sheehan, each had two goals and one assist.
John Galimi delivered one goal and two assists, with Rosa, Sabatino, Sasso, Ryan Sheehan, Jimmy Bergan and Sam Kristis each getting one goal. Stanistreet had an assist, as did David McCarthy and Derek Pettinelli.
With the big win at B’ville secured, WG could rest a bit and prepare for next Thursday’s visit from Fayetteville-Manlius, the last regular-season home game of Mike Messere’s storied coaching tenure with the Wildcats.
