Wildcats Close Season On Winning Note

The West Genesee Boy's varsity lacrosse team finished their 2006 regular season (13-4) with an 8-3 over the Auburn Maroons (7-10) at home on Friday night. It was the 45 time the Cats had met the Maroons in the past 30 seasons with Genny holding a decisive edge 45-0. It was also senior night for 11 West Genesee players, Matt Grogan, Nate Darrow, Scott Cost, Sean Griffin, Kevin Courtney, Mark Kelly, Chris Schmidt, Jaren Woeppel, Roby Farchione, Ben Watkins, Jordan Davie and Jon Stanistreet.

Senior night aside Auburn's senior middie Matt Chadderdon nearly opened the scoring for the visitors when his shot with 8:49 left in the first quarter grazed off junior goalie John Galloway's stick then off of the right goal post. However it was the Cats opening up the scoring 5:13 in at 1-0 with senior attackmen, Roby Farchione and junior Brian Donahue working together along with sophomore middie Luke Cometti. The play began with Cometti near the restraining line finding Donahue on the right post, who then passed across to Farchione who beat senior Maroon goalie Pat Cameron. Cometti nearly made it a two goal lead at 4:35 when he spun past his defender, beat the goalie but his left handed shot caromed of the left post.

The final three minutes of the quarter became the Chadderdon show as the Auburn middie used a bounce shot at 3:29 beat Galloway to tie the game at 1-1. Chadderdon then added two more attempts before the final horn but Galloway was equal to the task. Genny opened the second quarter with an early goal from Cometti with a blast from just inside the restraining line at 11:14 with an assist to Schmidt and a 2-1 lead.

The Cats looked to extend the lead and nearly did so with 5:02 to go when senior middie Kevin Courtney found Farchione but the Genny attempt was thwarted once again by a goal post. With the Cats continuing to press the play it was junior middie Tim Desko converting a feed on the left side of the goal from junior attackman Collin Donahue for a 3-1 advantage with 4:33 to go. Genny continued the push and were rewarded for their constant pressure when junior middie Aaron Printup drew a penalty at 3:37 when he was driving to the Maroon and was slashed by an Auburn defender. Collin Donahue made short work of the Cats extra man advantage with a goal at 3:22, 4-1 with an assist from Cometti.

The third quarter began with a disallowed goal as Farchione's shot was waved off due to a crease violation. The Maroon's took advantage of the Cats near miss as Chadderdon netted his second of the game 7:39, 4-2 as he beat Galloway who appeared to be screened on the shot. With Auburn looking to get back in the game both teams vied for the advantage but it was the Cats defensive corp that help extend Genny's lead.

With the Maroon's pressing in the Cats end junior defender Chris Aubertine stripped his man, directly behind him was senior defender Jaren Woeppel who scooped up the ball and headed towards the Maroon goal. Fighting off several checks Woeppel sped goal ward and found Farchione behind goal right. Farchione then one timed back to Woeppel who put a shot past the stunned Cameron at 2:50 to increase the lead to 5-2 and energize the Wildcat faithful. With the Cats beginning to roll Desko netted his second of the game 6-2 with just 1:25 as his left handed bouncer found a home in the Auburn goal with an assist to Schmidt.

The fourth quarter began with the Cats once again being bitten by the pipe bug as junior attackman Brian Donahue beat Cameron only to have his shot hit a post with 11:11 to go With 9:34 to go in the game junior middie Aaron Printup used a slick stick move on a run down the slot as he switched from his left to right hand just as his pursuing defender took a swipe at his right side, then fired a shot just under the crossbar for a 7-2 lead. Auburn answered back at 8:39 with another Chadderon goal his third of the game to make the score 7-3. The Cats ended the game and their regular season with a final goal with 4:53 to go as Brian Donahue converted a pass from Courtney to make the final score 8-3.