CORTLAND – Once more the West Genesee girls lacrosse team has the Section III Class B championship, having outclassed its most notable rival to get it.
The Wildcats started quick against Fayetteville-Manlius in Tuesday night’s sectional final at SUNY-Cortland and, with depth and well-timed scoring spurts, turned back every challenge the Hornets threw at them to prevail 14-9.
“The key to our season was our depth,” said Wildcats head coach Shannon Burke-Musak. “It showed in how well we worked together.”
Six different WG players netted goals in the first half, while senior Ashleigh Blanding and junior Molly Doran, who finished with four goals apiece, paced the Wildcats in the late going even as F-M attempted to rally.
WG sprinted out to a 4-0 lead before the game was five minutes old, with Blanding scoring twice after goals by Keira Vrabel and Mia Gialto. Burke-Musak said her team’s knowledge of what F-M would do from those two previous meetings helped in the way the game started.
Up 5-1 after one period with a goal added by Doran, the Wildcats added to that margin in the second, with Payton Jeffery and Sophia Lawrence both tacking on goals and Doran scoring short-handed after Gialto went out with a yellow card.
A big sequence came right before halftime. Down 8-3, F-M had chances to get closer, but Allie Hanlon made two point-blank stops before Gialto scored with 15.8 seconds left, extending WG’s margin to 9-3 at the break.
Just as important was what the Wildcats’ defense was doing, holding Taylor Novack, who entered the game with 65 goals, off the board throughout the first two periods.
Maddie Ryder got the assignment to face-guard Novack, and Burke-Musak said she did a great job following Novack everywhere with plenty of help from back-line players like Sarah Adams and Brooke Owens, who often joined in double-teaming situations.
Novack finally did convert in the third quarter, which Blanding and Maria Snyder answered with back-to-back goals amid a driving rain. But Novack and Jane Ryan scored 34 seconds apart, reducing WG’s margin to 11-7.
Again, though, the Wildcats had a timely answer. Doran converted just before the period ended, then joined Blanding in converting again early in the fourth quarter to erase any suspense about the outcome.
WG will face the Section IV champions this Saturday in the Class B regional final, looking for a win to return to Cortland next weekend for the state final four.
As this was going on, the sectional Class C title game had Westhill attempting to win it first-ever championship, only to get turned back by South Jefferson in an 11-4 defeat.
Armed with plenty of momentum after upending reigning state champion Skaneateles in the May 23 semifinals, the no. 3 seed Warriors appeared, at first, to carry it over against the top-seeded Spartans, grabbing a 3-1 lead late in the first quarter as Kara Rosenberger scored twice after a goal by Grace Stroman.
From there, though, it was all South Jefferson, with Savannah Hodges leading the attack and through a defense that, after Rosenberger scored with 4:56 left in the half, didn’t let Westhill convert again for more than 26 minutes of game time.
The Spartans took the lead for good with back-to-back goals from Savannah Hodges and Emma Kelley late in the first quarter, then stretched the margin to 7-4 by halftime and shut out Westhill for a majority of the second half until Rosenberger added a fourth goal. The Warriors finished its season at 14-5.
