Wildcats Rip Maroons

Friday April 8th saw the Wildcats "visit" the Auburn Maroons at Corcoran's Shane Lynch Stadium for a Colonial National division showdown. As displayed early on this season, the 'Cats trend has been to slowly sputter out of the gate before settling into an offensive rhythm. This day would be no different as they ripped off 17 unanswered goals after an early first quarter 2-1 lead to dismantel the Maroons 19-1.


The 'Cats got things started at the 10:25 mark off a fast break as senior David Osier found fellow attack-mate Jeff Ryan charging hard up field where he nestled a bounce shot past netminder Pat Cameron. Osier got his first goal 3 minutes later as senior defender Sean Leahy advanced one of many Wildcat take aways upfield and found him 5 yards straight on where he bounced a right-hander in for a 2-0 lead. The stingy Genny defensive unit again put the hammer down, standing their ground and diverting anything resembling a penetration attempt. This unit has a uncanny knack for baiting an opponent behind the cage only to pounce hard, force a turnover and start the potent fast break. This said, the only Maroon tally and close penetration of the game came on a man-up situation as Brian Hoey redirected a shot over McKeons shoulder to cut the lead in half. As the first quarter came to a close, Leahy again forced a coughed up ball and advanced upfield to Jeff Ryan who in turn quickly gave it up to Osier for his second goal to end the first quarter with the Wildcats up 3-1.

The second quarter saw the Wildcat offensive engine start to purr with a flurry of goals. It took until the 8:26 mark when senior attack Tim Spillett found a loose ball on the turf just in front of the cage and promptly tossed it to the back of the net as Cameron was caught totally out of position. Two minutes later junior middie Kevin Courtney tallied after cutting left to right across the middle off a feed from Ryan from behind to extend the lead to 5-1. Through domination at the X, Genny controlled possesion...and an up tempo blitzkrieg of goals as less than a minute later senior middie Mark Cometti tallied his first goal off a sweet move that blew his defender's socks off, faking right then left before dumping a right hander over the left shoulder of Cameron for a 6-1 lead. At the 5:20 mark Junior middie Rob Chamberlain came in unchallenged from straight out and launched a bounced rocket that lit the net for a 7-1 lead and the rout was on. Twenty seconds later Tim Spillett then shook off his defender in an amazing move and dished to Ryan who was charging to the goal where he beat the defenseless Cameron for an 8-1 advantage. In an almost duplicate situation off the succeeding face off, Spillett again, working from behind the cage found Ryan who quickly redirected the pass for his third goal of the game. Courtney notched his second in a move that has become his trademark, running in right side from 20 yards out, he faked his defender inside, stepped to the right and blasted a right hander past the Maroon netminder for a 10-1 lead. This closed out a three-minute span which saw 5 goals that broke the back of the Maroons.

It took the Cats until the 8:27 mark before David Osier shuffling left, right and back again from behind found Tim Spillett alone one-on-one with the goalie who quickly deposited a right handed shot for an 11-1 lead. For the second game in a row senior defender Marc Cizenski has played like a man possessed. Like a mobile black hole, Cizenski has had a knack for sucking up every ball and opponent in his way and swallowed up numerous Maroons on this sunny day. Senior middie Andrew Vecchio bounced in a feed from Osier as he flew in untouched from the right to bump the lead to 12-1 . On yet another fast break, the Wildcats again punished Auburn as senior middie Brian Griffin pushed the ball upfield and found Ryan again camped out at point blank range where he netted is fourth goal of the day and pushed the lead to 13-1.

The fourth quarter saw a bevy of fresh faces make their marks in the scoring column for first time this season as freshman attacker Ryan Barber tallied his first marker of the year, slipping a right-hander inside the right upright and senior middie PJ Motondo finished off a running right hander from 5 yards out to make the score 15-1. During the fourth, the Wildcats plugged the lanes, denying advancement past midfield by the Maroons which turned into yet another barrage of Genny goals. With 5:00 remaining senior middie Kevin Joy notched his first with a running shot from straight on which was quickly followed by a running shot by senior middie Tom Collins as he bulled his way to pay dirt. Joy again contributed as he fed junior attacker Chris Schmidt from behind to push the lead to 18-1. The scoring closed out with Schmidt working left side from behind the cage finding junior attacker Roby Farchione right on the crease where he quickly redirected in the nineteenth goal of the game to advance the 'Cats to their 5th straight victory of the season.