Wildcats Quiet Quakers

The West Genesee boys varsity lacrosse team (19-4) advanced to their fifth straight state title game Thursday night with an 11-7 win over Sec.VI's Orchard Park (21-2) at Cicero-North Syracuse Highschool. Orchard Park had come into the game rated the number four ranked team in the state according to Laxpower. They also touted a much larger physical team that was supposed to have it's way the physically undersized Cats. However a closer look at the OP schedule showed that 21 of their previous wins came against nine teams with losing records and a rather bloated run of five wins in a row against teams with a won loss record of 16-52. The Cats posting an 18-4 record held a number eight ranking from Laxpower and continued to search for early season magic with wins against Cicero-North Syracuse,Fayetteville Manlius and Binghamton on their current sectional, regional, state run.

The Quakers looked to assert their physical size immediately at 10:58 when attackman Matt Ciambella tried to burrow under the check of senior defender Jaren Woeppel and used a rather unorthodx right handed under hand shot that junior goalie John Galloway stopped with no problem. Midfielder Greg Michael a natural right hander guarded tightly on the right side forced a weak left handed shot on cage at 9:35 which was once again snared easily by Galloway. However it was the Cats who took the lead on a goal by junior middie Ryan Barber who whipped a running right hander by OP goalie Vinne Lupora with 8:34 to put the Cats up 1-0 and start a five goal run. At 6:38 Barber was at it again this time beating OP face-off expert Nick Brink and sending a bullet into the top left hand corner of the goal for a 2-0 lead with 6:38 to go. Genny looked to in crease the lead to three at 4:47 but junior attackman Collin Donahue's diving shot that went in was called back for a crease violation. Unfazed the Cats continued their assault on the OP goal and it paid off at 3:36 when junior middie Tim Desko rocked the net with a shot from 10yards out for a 3-0 lead.

If the first quarter had the Quakers shaking their heads the opening seconds of the second quarter had to make them wonder what they were doing at CNS at all? After junior middie Aaron Printup loosed the ball on the face-off Woeppel scrambled, gathered in the ball and found Printup who tossed the ball to Colin Donahue on the right post, who then flicked across the cage to junior attackman Adam Mazzoni and 34 seconds into the quarter the Cats led 4-0.

The Genny onslaught continued to roll at 9:55 when Cometti swept wide, shed his defender and unloaded a right handed canon that left Lupora shaking his head and the Quakers on the short end of a 5-0 game. For the next several moments the game was played between the attack boxes as the Cats more than held their own in the hitting department as maroon and white uniforms began to scatter all over the field. Ryan Barber nearly netted the hat trick at 7:34 but just missed the mark as his right handed side arm shot beat Lupora by deflected off the cross bar.

The Quakers finally found an answer to the Genny defense nearly 17 minutes into the game when Josh Eustice dropped a pass from the back side over the cross bar to a wide open Jeff Tundo who beat Galloway who had no chance and cut the lead to 5-1. With a goal on the board and extended possesion time as the quarter wore down it appeared that OP may have thoughts of a comeback but the several shots that they did have were turned away and all controlled by Galloway.

The third quarter saw a momentary shift in momentum as the Quakers scored back to back goals in a three minute span to cut the Cats lead to 5-3. With OP making an apparent move Genny needed a goal and got just that with 2:59 to go when senior attackman Chris Schmidt cut down the left side of the goal and fired cross cage to Collin Donahue who deflected the ball by Lupore for a 6-3 adavantage. With Genny's aggressive defense in full swing it was only a matter of time before they were called for battering their western foes and with 4:42 OP made the most of their man-up situation when Ciambella beat Galloway with a shot that knuckle balled over his left shoulder to cut the lead to 6-4. Genny would end the third and the Quakers momentum as Desko found his way around Brinks then stuffed a low shot past Lupore with 1:28 for a 7-4 lead.

The fourth quarter opened with a series of Wildcat goals featuring two straight by Schmidt whose shot at 10:19 hit Lupore but rattled by the goalie and settled in the net for an 8-4 lead.Schmidt followed that up with a move to the left post at 8:51 to increase the lead to 9-4. At 7:11 Matt Grogan scooped up an errant pass from junior attackman Brian Donahue and stuck it in the net for a 10-4 lead. OP answered back at 6:39 on a point blank shot by Tundo that just squeaked by Galloway who was visibly upset after getting a piece of the shot. Then at 3:44 Greg Michael put back a rebound shot to cut the Genny lead to 10-6. After the OP two goal run Brian Donahue sealed the game with a shot that bounced in off the Lupore with 2:45 to go to give Genny an insurmountable lead and one more chance to keep the drive for five alive.