CORTLAND – No girls lacrosse team that came to SUNY-Cortland for last weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships had more state titles on its ledger than West Genesee’s seven.
But the current players were just getting into grade school the last time the Wildcats won it all in 2014, and after a defeat in the semifinal round one year ago, WG was determined to put an end to this decade-long wait for state title no. 8.
The Wildcats did make it to the title game this time around, only to run into a dominant Victor side from Section V that, by a 15-6 margin, claimed its third consecutive state crown.
Victor had what the Wildcats lacked in winning experience in this ultimate game. And the Blue Devils took less than a minute to get in front with Elizabeth Boland’s goal. Two minutes later freshman Allie Pisano forced a turnover, ran more than 30 yards to the net and flung a shot past Allie Hanlon.
Undeterred by this, the Wildcats got even at 2-2 with goals by Ashleigh Blanding and Molly Doran, but Victor regained the lead for good with Devin Livingston’s back-to-back goals and added two more before the first quarter ended.
A third and fourth goal from Livingston made it a 6-0 Victor run that Mia Gialto ended with 7:04 left in the half, but by then the most costly damage had already taken place.
Where the Wildcats picked up some optimism was when the Blue Devils picked up consecutive yellow cards near the end of the half. Thus, WG was two players up starting the 3rd quarter even as it trailed 10-4.
Needing to take advantage of this, the Wildcats did get a goal from Sophia Lawrence, then another from Lawrence at full strength to cut the deficit to 10-6.
Again, though, the Blue Devils answered back, with goals by Julia Bruno and Camryn Adrid a minute apart and by holding the ball for several minutes before Livingston’s fifth goal in the last second of the period made it 13-6, out of WG’s reach.
Lawrence would add a fourth goal in the final period and Blanding would convert again in the final minute, but Livingston would run her total to six as she led Victor to yet another state championship triumph.
Now the Wildcats will see a strong group of 11 seniors that were part of back-to-back sectional titles graduate, but plenty of talented players come back in 2025, determined to help WG take that final step to a place on top it once knew so well.
