Over a stretch of time that amounts to more than the full length of a high school girls lacrosse game, West Genesee did not score a goal in the Section III Class A semifinals and finals.
Ultimately, that proved too much to overcome.
While the Wildcats got away with a scoreless second half in its semifinal win over Cicero-North Syracuse on May 24, it could not escape the continuation of that drought in the first half of Tuesday night’s final against Christian Brothers Academy at SUNY-Cortland.
The fact that WG stayed within range, and nearly came back to win it, spoke plenty about the team’s character, but a 6-4 defeat to the Brothers meant that, for the third year in a row, a Wildcats season ended short of a sectional title.
WG held the top seed and CBA the no. 2 seed, but the Brothers were the defending sectional champions, its older players quite familiar with the Cortland facility since it won a state Class A title there in 2016 and returned to the state final four a year later.
But when these sides met April 21 at Mike Messere Field, it was the Wildcats prevailing 9-6 as it turned things around from there, only losing to eventual sectional Class B champion Fayetteville-Manilus the rest of the regular season.
The events of that first game had a lot to do with how CBA turned that result around a month later. Back then, WG’s attackers found success against the Brothers’ man-to-man defense, outrunning them and hustling to ground balls, too.
Now, though, CBA applied a zone to the Wildcats, and WG found itself struggling in much the same way it did in the second half against C-NS, when only superb defense of its own salvaged a 6-5 victory.
Aiding in the Brothers’ effort was the fact that Grace Hulslander was beating Mackenzie Meager in most of the draws and that it scored four times in the first 10 minutes, with Olivia Penoyer scoring twice as Hulslander and Gracie Britton also found the net.
From there, Madison Smith, Grace Walker, Emma Parry, Meredith Barrett and the rest of WG’s back line did a strong job clamping down on CBA, and waited for its attack to get something going.
That zone kept confounding the Wildcats, though, and when Claire Jeschke struck late in the half to extend the Brothers’ margin to 5-0, it seemed close to insurmountable.
At last, the drought ended on Matisyn Schaut’s goal 90 seconds into the second half. Newly energized, WG picked up pressure on both ends, and back-to-back goals by Phoebe Nelson and Emily Stratton a minute apart cut CBA’s lead to 5-3 with more than 15 minutes left.
However, many different opportunities to inch closer were thwarted, and the Brothers kept its poise, calmly controlling the ball and tacking on an insurance goal from Britton with 10:28 to play.
Several big stops by CBA kept the Wildcats off the board until Eliza MacCaull scored with 59.8 seconds left, which proved too late.
WG finished its season at 13-5, and will see another strong senior class, including Walker, Barrett, Parry, Nelson, MacCaull, Madison Fox and Adrianna Nojaim depart. Schaut, Stratton, Smith, Sam Detor and Elise Mancabelli lead a solid returning cast for 2019.
