CENTRAL NEW YORK – Of all the many measures of excellence West Genesee lacrosse teams use, one that is constant is how it stacks up against its most historic rival, Fayetteville-Manlius.
As of now, the Wildcats look quite good, whichever side is considered.
In twin games last Tuesday night, WG swept them, the boys prevailing 16-10 at F-M Stadium while, back at Mike Messere Field, the girls were dominant from the outset and won by a 15-6 margin.
On the boys side, WG had moved to no. 5 in the state Class B rankings with its eight-game win streak, now meeting an F-M side back in Class A and holding the no. 12 state ranking with a 7-1 record.
What happened illustrated, again, the value of possession and gaining face-offs, personified by the great work of Jonah Vormwold.
F-M could not recover from a first quarter where the Wildcats constantly got possession and constantly solved F-M’s defense, not letting up until it had built a 7-2 advantage.
Both here, and in a third quarter where it outscored the Hornets 6-2, to put the game away, Vormwold constantly was able to grab the ball from whichever F-M player opposed him at the center X.
Of the 27 face-offs he took, Vormwold won 20 of them, the key to establishing a 14-6 advantage through three quarters along with four goals from Nolan Bellotti and three goals from Gary
McLane, to go with two assists.
Three others – Nash Oudemool, Charlie Lockwood and Chace Cogan – scored twice, with single goals going to Jake McMahon, Christian Long and Jack Wenham. Colin Clark led F-M with three goals.
As this went on, WG’s girls played a similar type of game with a similar type of result, only more lopsided.
It was sophomore Sophia Lawrence at the forefront for the Wildcats, especially in a first half where she kept on gaining draws, and it led to possessions and plenty of goals, the Wildcats going up 12-2 by halftime.
Lawrence claimed 14 draws overall. If that wasn’t enough, she set a new career mark with five goals, with Keira Vrabel stepping up for a three-goal hat trick. Maddie Ryder and Payton Jeffery both scored twice as Ashleigh Blanding, Maria Snyder and Mia Gialto got single goals.
Now, facing a 1-8 Baldwinsville side it beat in a 9-7 classic back in April, WG did not want any kind of tension this time around, and the defense saw to it, limiting the Bees’ chances throughout a 12-3 triumph.
Snyder broke out in a big way, her five goals setting a career mark. Blanding and Ryder both scored twice, with Vrabel and Gialto both earning one goal and one assist. Addie Foster also had a goal, with Lawrence controlling 10 draws.
This contrasted with what happened at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, where the WG boys’ nine-game win streak got halted by B’ville in a tense 11-10 defeat.
The start proved crucial. B’ville, who lost 12-7 when the teams met in Camillus in April, jumped out to a 4-2 lead, a margin it would maintain through the game’s middle stages.
Even with Vormwold winning 20 of 25 faceoffs he took, WG still found itself down two, 11-9, when it scored with a minute to play. But the Bees held on in large part thanks to goalie Trevor Sutton, who recorded 18 saves.
Cogan’s three goals paced the Wildcats. Lockwood scored twice, with McLane getting a goal and two assists. Bellotti, McMahon, Oudemool and Jacob Penasabene scored, too, as B’ville’s duo of Brady and Dylan Garcia each got three-goal hat tricks.
In a non-league game on Saturday, WG rebounded by beating Watertown 11-7. The Wildcats built a 9-4 lead through three quarters and held on late.
With Vormwold claiming 17 of the 22 faceoffs he took, Bellotti, with three goals, led the way. McLane had two goals and two assists, with Cogan and Oudemool also scoring twice. McMahon and Pensabene added goals and Lockwood got two assists.
WG’s girls went on the road Saturday and were challenged by Watertown but won 10-7, Hanlon stopping 13 of the 20 Cyclones shots she faced and Gialto rewarding her efforts by scoring four times. Jeffery added two goals, with Blanding, Lawrence, Snyder and Ryder earning one goal apiece.
