Cats comeback squashes Hornets 8-5
 
The West Genesee Wildcats captured their third win of the season 1-0 (3-0) Friday night with a come from behind 8-5 win against the Fayetteville Manlius Hornets at West Genesee stadium. A light misting rain shrouded the grounds all evening but it was the Hornets who cut through the fog first as Anthony Krisman took the ball off the wing on the face-off went the length of the field and sent one just wide of the Genny cage. Krisman made good on his next attempt  at 6:07 as he swept to the right of junior Cat goalie Steve Mahle a stuck one in the net for a 1-0 lead.
 
Genny knotted the score 1-1 with 1:34 to go when senior defender Ben Waldron intercepted a pass at midfield fed senior Long stick midfielder Jack Kennedy who dished to senior attackman Mike Fetterly who beat Hornet goalie Chris Miles.
Fayetteville answered back  less than a minute later when Mike Poppleton spun a left handed shot over Mahle’s shoulder for a 2-1 lead. But the Cats fought right back as a near miss by senior midfielder Tim Besio ricocheted off the facemask of Miles with just 37 seconds to go in the half. Given a second chance with just over 17 seconds to go Besio converted on a pass from senior midfielder and captain Mark Cometti to knot the game at 2-2.
 
The second half saw the Cats and Hornets exchange early shots but Miles and Mahle were both equal to the task. Fayetteville would find the mark on their next attempt with 7:13 left to go as Matt Taylor slipped one over Mahle’s left shoulder for a 3-2 advantage. Two minutes later at 5:18 F-M would increase their lead to the largest of the night when Mike O’Neil converted a rebound shot to put the visitors up 4-2.
Cometti tried to chip into the Hornet lead with 5:08 to go but Miles who had his number for the better part of the game turned him aside again. But Cometti was not to be denied as an aggressive Genny ride forced a Hornet turnover, which led to Fetterly scooping up the ball feeding Cometti who made the shot count beating Miles with 4:59 to go and cut the lead to 4-3. Genny’s attempt to tie with just 20 seconds to go skittered off the left post as Fetterly slipped his defender to Miles right, loosed a shot only to have it go past Miles left shoulder and off the post.
 
The third quarter was relativley quiet with each team scoring once. Genny led off with Besio’s second of the night 4-4 with 3:51 to go over Miles right side with an assist to sophomore midfielder ‘Cali’ John Glesner. Fayetteville got the goal and the lead back 5-4 with 2:04 left in the quarter as Poppleton converted on a spinning, diving move when  he ducked under Cometti and flipped a shot to Mahles right
 
Trailing the entire game the Cats began to claw back into the game and the win column with four unaswered goals. The comeback began with 8:20 to go when senior midfielder Ryan McConell scooped up the ball on the Genny defensive side of the field, burst into a full sprint with two Hornet defenders in pursuit, found junior attackman Jordan Rogers open, who in turn found junior attackman Ike Hopper. Hopper took Rodgers pass, broke in alone on Miles, threw several left handed stick fakes a deposited the ball just off Miles right hip tying the game at 5-5.
Cometti made it 6-5 with his second of the game on a turn-around shot with another assist from Fetterly with 6:42 to go.With 3:29 to go junior midfielder Conor Regin lost his man, took a Cometti pass and the Cats had their biggest lead of the evening 7-5. Fetterly and Cometti combined once again with 2:34 but this time it was Fetterly the recipient of a Cometti pass, ripping a shot in the upper corner to seal and steal the game 8-5.
 
Backed by the steady play of Mahle with 13 saves the West Genny D once again held a potent offense in check as Waldron, Kennedy, junior longstick midfielder Chris Burns along with junior defenders Joe Fazio and Jack Conboy constantly forced the Hornets into poor shot selections. Senior midfielder tim Besio also continues to impress, as he had several more pancake checks which led to loose ball fast breaks to go along with his two goals. Cometti also had a solid overall game with five total points.
  1 2 3 4 final
West Genesse 2 1 1 4 8
Fayetteville-Manlius 2 2 1 0 5

Besio 2-0, Cometti 2-3, Fetterly 2-2, Hopper 1-0, Kennedy 0-1, Rogers 0-1, Regin 1-0

Saves: Mahle 13
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