'Cats Make History Dropping Second Game in a Row


The West Genesee Wildcats (11-2) dropped their second consecutive game Thursday night to rival Fayetteville Manlius Hornets (12-1) at West Genesee by a score of 10-7. The Cats and Hornets met earlier this season at Coyne Field on the Syracuse University campus with West Genny coming out on top 10-5 but on this night it would be all F-M. The loss also marked the first time the 'Cats lost back-to-back games in coach Mike Messere's 31 year career at the helm.

Coming off their first loss of the year against Corcoran the Cats appeared early to have sloughed off the rust with two goals by senior attackman Chris Schmidt. The first came unassisted at 10:15 to make the score 1-0. Schmidt's second of the quarter 6:32 came after scooping up a rebound shot off the stick of junior attackman Collin Donahue and the Cats led 2-0. Fayetteville fought back owning the latter part of the first quarter and cut the lead in half on a goal by Greg Gilroy 2-1 with 5:08 to go. F-M tied the game at 2-2 with 3:40 to go while the Cats were serving a 30 sec penalty for pushing on a goal by Anthony Krisman with and assist to Ben Conger.

The Hornets continued to press the play and almost took the lead at 10:16 when Nate Tucker's shot skipped under junior goalie John Galloway's stick; hit the right post but skittered away. But the Hornets would not miss on their next try and it was Adam Goldberg at 9:51 sneaking a point blank shot by Galloway for a 3-2 lead. With a one goal lead and continuing possession based on face-off dominance F-M controlled the ball for nearly three minutes nearly upping the score twice as two shots clanked off the goal posts.

Genny nearly knotted the game when senior middie Scott Cost was given an open look at the Hornet goal, but likewise struck iron at 6:31 as the Cats watched their chance to tie bounce harmlessly off the pipe. On the ensuing possesion the Hornets made Genny pay for their near miss as Krisman took a feed from behind by Scott Smith and stuck a the ball in the net at 5:01 and the Hornets had their biggest lead of the game 4-2.

With 4:10 left in the half the Cats found themselves a man-down and the Hornets looked to take advantage but Galloway stepped in and made a succession of three point blank saves. Galloway's heroics enabled the Cats to creep back 4-3 as sophomore middie Ryan Barber ripped a right hander past Hornet goalie Kevin Fountain with 1:43 to go. Genny nearly tied the game with 50 seconds to go but Collin Donahue could not connect on a wide open shot.   As sure as the Doahue's miss looked like it should have gone in Genny tied the game on a crazy bounce as a freak deflection found its way past Fountain 4-4 with just 45 seconds to go Schmidt was credited with the goal, his third of the game.

The third quarter began with the Hornets owning the face-off x again and applied early pressure as Krisman hit the post and Conger shot just wide from in close. After another Krisman miss it was Goldberg once again with a sweeping right hander at 8:16 to give the Hornets a 5-4 lead. Less than a minute later Goldberg struck for his second in a row, third of the game after the Cats failed to advance the ball and with 7:42 it was once again a two goal lead 6-4.

Genny bounced back with Schmidt's third goal of the game 6-5 at 5:45 as he beat Fountain with a confounding bouncer with an assist to Collin Donahue. With the Cats pressing for a comeback Galloway made another point blank save but his efforts were for naught as West Genny failed to clear the ball twice in a row. With time running out in the third it was Galloway again making three save in succession as he kept the Hornets at bay and the Cats in the game. The Cats final chance came near the end of the quarter as they had numbers on a fast break but a deflection off a Hornets defenders stick went out of bounds. The close official signaled the Hornets ball, but the off-side official whistled the play dead to confer. After a brief meeting the Hornets retained possession, a missed call that was so obvious it left F-M coach Tom Hall shaking his head and laughing on the near sideline.

The fourth quarter began much the same way the entire game had gone with Galloway making two more scintillating point blank save on Goldberg. With the ball behind in the end line senior Wildcat defender Jaren Woeppel battled three Hornet attackers with no help in sight. Fayetteville finally retained the ball and it was Gilroy adding his second of the game 7-5 with an assist from Conger with 9:06 to go. With the Cats facing another man down it was Goldberg again for the Hornets, first just missing with a post shot then having Galloway shut him down once again in close.

On the Hornets defensive end it was Fountain stopping sophomore middie Ryan Barber then starting a fast break that Tucker converted into a goal 8-5 at 6:15 with an assist from Adam Drypolcher. Less than a minute later at 5:48 it was Tucker 9-5 again on a solo effort with a shot low to Galloway's stick side. The wall finally caved in for the Cats just 21 seconds later as they folded to the Hornet pressure when Drypolcher stole an attempted clearing pass and went in uncontested on an open net for a 10-5 lead.

With just under four minutes to go and the spector of a second straight loss Genny pushed the issue but it was Fountain's turn to shine as he stopped Cost on consecutive tries, followed by Barber and junior middie Joe Pompo. Genny did manage to finally solve Fountain with 2:13 on a Barber left hander cutting the lead to 10-6. However it wasn't enough as Genny's last gasp came with 55 seconds left off the stick of junior attackman Brian Donahue with an assist to sophomore middie Luke Cometti for a 10-7 final score.