Northstars Defeat 'Cats In Second Meeting


The West Genesee Boy's varsity lacrosse (13-3) team continued their spiral toward mediocrity dropping their third game in the last five 7-6 to Cicero-North Syracuse Northstars (11-3) at Bragman Stadium on the campus of Cicero-North Syracuse. A near replay from several weeks ago when the Cats beat Fayetteville in their initial contest 10-5 but lost 10-7 in the rematch. Likewise as the Cats dominated CNS in their first meeting 8-4 before dropping this evenings contest. West Genesee hasn't lost more than three games since the 2001 season when they finished 16-4 failing to get out of the sectionals.

The Northstars turned out to be less than gracious hosts when they converted a West Genesee turnover at midfield to a Jeff Gilbert goal when he ran past sophomore middie   Luke Cometti before sticking a bounce shot past junior goalie John Galloway 1-0 at 10:33. Wildcats junior attackman Adam Mazzoni tried to tie the game at 8:26 but was stuffed by CNS goalie Jamie Praino a scene that would be a recurring theme all night. Not to be outdone by Praino, Galloway made several stellar saves on Nick Bloomer, then Jeff Gilbert who nearly turned a Nick Lococo pass into a goal.

At 6:41 the Cats made another attempt at scoring when junior attackman Collin Donahue shed his defender, backed in on the crease spun, but was met on the doorstep by Priano. The Cats continued their sloppy ways when senior defender Jaren Woeppel's turn over was nearly converted into a goal by Lococo but Galloway came to the fore again with another save. On the next offensive foray it was another Genny turnover as Donahue succumbed to CNS defensive pressure and short hopped a pass to senior attackmate Chris Schmidt.

Cicero would take advantage at 4:46 by taking the clear and adding to their lead when Lococo passed to   Steve Ianzito, who's right hander found its way stick side past Galloway for a 2-0 advantage. The Cats next offensive attempt at 3:37 came up empty again when junior middie Joe Pompo lofted a weak left handed shot the Priano stopped easily. With the Cats unable to generate any credible offensive threat it was Galloway who kept Genny in the game stopping a Mike Scrianno bullet sacrificing the inside of his right thigh.But it wasn't enough as the Cats threw the ball away once again at 1:32 only to have CNS's Nick Bloomer sneak a left handed shot into the bottom of a net giving the Northstars a 3-0 first quarter lead. West Genesee promised early that they might decide to enter the fray when Cometti put a right handed shot in the goal at 11:30 cutting the CNS lead to 3-1.

With the Cats pressure mounting Priano came up with consecutive saves on Barber and Donahue. On the ensuing clear it appeared the Cats had gathered the ball back in as Barber picked off the pass, but then he bounced the ball five yards in front of Donahue on the pass and the ball rolled out of bounds. The Cat blanks continued to haunt them when Mike Broadhead, danced alone in front of the Genny goal before dumping an ugly shot past Galloway for a 4-1 lead with 2:39 remaining. With the Cats stumbling towards half-time Barber tried reeling them back in with a right handed bullet from 20yds out with just 1:30 remaining to halve the lead 4-2. However the Northstars were not finished stripping the Cats again on the clear only to see Bloomer's right handed rip deflect off the tip of Galloway's stick then the right post before settling in the far right corner of the field.

West Genny began the third with an early tally at 10:51 by Cometti, his second of the game 4-3 as he converted a pass from Schmidt and ripped a shot that buckled Priano's knees. Just 42 seconds later it look like the Cats may just get back in it as Woeppel stripped Lococo, started a fast break. As Woeppel streaked across midfield with several CNS defenders in pursuit he found Schmidt open to his left, who then found a wide opem junior attackman Adam Mazzoni and the Cats were back in it tied 4-4 with 10:09 to go in the quarter. For the next seven minutes neither CNS nor West Genny could make their mark as both teams continued to get bottled up outside each others restraining line.

The Northstars finally retook the lead with 2:52 to go when West Genesee found themselves a man down for a 30 second push. Much like several of the phantom calls that took place during the Fayetteville Manlius game, the offside official who was 40 plus yards away made the call, regardless of the onside official who was less than 10 yards from the play but saw no need to make the call. Steve Ianzito was the recipient of the gift netting his second of the game upping the CNS lead to 5-4.

As the fourth quarter began one could not tell who would come out on top as the West Genny faithful waited for the Genny of old to emerge. The early portion of the quarter saw a Northstars goal disallowed for a crease violation, then it was Priano and Galloway trading save for save. The action started when Genny senior middie Matt Grogan cut down the crease and rifled a shot right into Priano's cross a recurring theme that's lasted all season long.

While Priano and his defense congratulated themselves Nick Bloomer was in the Cats end getting robbed by Galloway. Unbeknownst to Priano who was still celebrating his prior save, the Cats had gathered the ball came down on a clear and it was Schmidt who almost beat Priano who stumbled clumsily back into the net. The Northstars finally took control 6-4 with a goal at 4:52 from Mike Scrianno with an assist to Gilbert. Followed by Bloomer's second unassisted with just 2:39 to go.

Suddenly it was F-M vs Genny II all over as the sleeping Cats tried to stuff 48 minutes of effort into the final two. West Genny's ill fated comeback began with Cometti's third of the game7-5 with just 1:22 to go. Cats junior attackman Brian Donahue used his bulky frame to muscle past his defender in close, the first such move by any Cat attacker on the evening to cut the lead 7-6 with just 24.7 seconds to go. With the biggest face-off of the night before them junior middie Tim Desko one the draw and after a brief scrum the Cats recovered. With time running down the Cats searched frantically for an opening before Barber tried an ill fated pass to Mazzoni that was picked out of the air as the horn sounded.