The West Genesee Wildcats survived their toughest challenge of the young season with their fourth victory (33rd in a row) with a 10-9 victory at Liverpool on Thursday evening. The gritty and determined play of the host Warriors and some uncharacteristic sloppy play by the 'Cats nearly proved their undoing.

The Wildcats appeared to be strong out of the gate when senior defenseman Jaren Woepple streaked downfield with the loose ball off the opening face-off to put the 'Cats up 1-0 twenty-two seconds into the contest. Following a stretch of sloppy play by both teams, the Wildcats again found their groove when junior attacker Adam Mazzoni fed fellow attacker Colin Donahue with a pass which he whipped past net minder Mike Grizanti to put the 'Cats up 2-0 at the 7:18 mark. One minute later senior middie Matt Grogan strode in from the left side and buried a shot to push the lead to 3-0 and it appeared they were well on their way to a dominating performance.

But new Liverpool coach Jay Graham's outfit would soon settle down and mount their own challenge. After winning the ensuing faceoff,the warriors notched their first goal ten seconds after Grogan's score. Following a nice 3-minute defensive stance by the Genny defensive front, the wall was penetrated by Armando BeVard and 'Pool was on the board again cutting the score to 3-2 before the quarter ended.

The second period again saw the 'Cats appearing to break the game wide open by scoring 3 goals in the first four minutes. Following a scrum behind the cage, senior attacker Chris Schmidt ended up with the loose ball rolling to him in front of the goal where he quickly deposited it to push the lead to 4-2. With 8:41 remaining sophomore middie Joe Pompo again to the goal and put the 'Cats up 5-2 and less than a minute later senior middie Scott Cost buried a shot from close range to make the score 6-2. 'Pools Jon Perez breathed life back into the Warriors with a diving shot past junior net minder John Galloway as he came from behind the cage to cut the lead in half with 5:02 remaining.

Whatever Graham said to his team at the half seemed to inspire the Warriors as they came out flying to start the third quarter...namely Tyler Long. Long took matters into his own hands with two consecutive goals run off isolation plays and within the first 40 seconds of the period, Liverpool was within one goal of the 'Cats. Despite the goals, Galloway again played stellar between the pipes turning away shot after shot as he was peppered by the inspired Warriors. Liverpool tied the game halfway through the period with a goal by Derek Kreuzer as he flew in with a running shot. Cost again pushed the 'Cats out front with a running shot from the left to make the score 7-6.

The 'Cats appeared affected by the comeback and seemed off their game plan and out synch. Numerous turnovers through unforced errors, penalties and rushed shots plagued the Wildcats for a 6 minute stretch. Cost notched his third goal after beating three defenders to make the score 8-6 with 1:24 remaining. Galloway then thwarted another Liverpool flurry by stuffing two point-blank shots with less than a minute to go.

The fourth saw no scoring in the first seven minutes until Genny pulled off one their classic precision passing, fast breaks with four players touching and advancing the ball in a ten second span. This ended with junior Brian Donahue finding Schmidt un-defended with a quick cross-crease pass to push the lead to 9-6. Liverpool then mounted yet another comeback with consecutive goals by Justin Rowley and Tyler Long to pull within one goal with 2:32 remaining. Cousins Colin and Brian Donahue hooked up on a man-up goal with Brian tallying the final goal for the Wildcats with two minutes remaining in the game.

Liverpool pulled within one yet again off a man-up goal with 17 seconds remaining and the Liverpool faithful were smelling upset. After a timeout by Graham, Liverpool planned it's strategy should they win the ensuing face-off which they seemed to control for much of the game. Upon snatching the loose ground ball, Liverpool now had one last chance to tie the game and send the contest into overtime. With two seconds remaining, the Warriors found room to unleash a last shot but it sailed high and wide past Galloway and was backed up by a Wildcat defender. In the end, the Wildcats staved off an inspired performance by a team that is MUCH better than it's 1-3 record and hopefully will serve as a wake-up call for West Genesee.