'Cats Escape Drowning in 'Pool

In what was billed as one of the best show downs of the season, the West Genesee Wildcats got 4 goals from senior Tim Spillett and a last minute overtime goal from Mark Cometti to seal their victory over the Liverpool Warriors. The Warriors came out flying and played with much emotion as they had dedicated the evenings game to assistant coach Dan Spillett who has been battling illness for some time. Coaches and players donned "4 Spills" tee shirts in honor of the long time assistant coach and player who is also the father of LeMoyne College ace Brandon Spillett and uncle of current Wildcat Tim Spillett, who had a career night errupting for four of Genny's six goals.

Although Liverpool's plan of attack was to play a calculating patient style of offense as it did much of the evening, it didn't take long for them to light up the scoreboard as Adam Perfitt directed a shot off the 'Pool carpet and over goalie Danny McKeon's shoulder at the 10:27 mark to put them up 1-0. In a battle of defenses and ineffective offenses, both teams played pretty much even throughout the first quarter. Both birthday boy Danny McKeon and his counterpart 6'6" Pat "Shrek" Sullivan stepped up with huge saves for their respective teams combining for 31 saves between them. While Liverpool patiently passed and passed the ball in 2 and 3 minute segments waiting for the best opportunity, the 'Cats were forcing the ball upfield and in many cases ending up on the slick carpet with the ball going the other way.

The Wildcat offense finally clicked when a minute and a half in, senior Mark Cometti working the ball behind the cage, found senior attacker Jeff Ryan alone in front of "Shrek" to tally the first goal for the Wildcats. Within seconds the scales tipped to 'Pool again. Off the ensuing faceoff and two passes later, Jake Rogalia bounced the second goal in to allow the Warriors to take a 2-1 lead. Twenty five seconds later it was Perfitt again as he split two Genny defenders while being sandwiched yet still unleashed a one-handed bounce shot that padded the Warrior lead to 3-1. The 'Cats finally righted the ship with a nifty backdoor pass from David Osier to Tim Spillett to cut the Warrior lead to one and a 3-2 Warrior lead. The Warriors then pushed their lead to two again with 23 seconds remaining as Kevin Klizczewicz from 10 yards out, bounced a shot past McKeon to take a 4-2 lead into the half.

As usual, the 'Cats came out in the second with renewed vigor but it took until the 8:55 mark when Jeff Ryan found Spillett for yet another back door pass and goal to cut the Liverpool lead to one. A bit over a minute later off the fast break which Genny runs almost to perfection, senior middie Andrew Vecchio on the run found Spillett with a pass and a point blank dump in to knot the score at four a piece. Genny's defense seemed to be a bit sharper and quicker coming out in the third in reaction time, forcing of turnovers and clogging the lanes. When something works, keep going to it...in this case the back door pass off the fast break. In a duplicate play at the 5:44 mark, Spillett ripped his fourth of the evening and third unanswered this time delivered courtesy of Dave Osier for the first Wildcat lead of the evening at 5 to 4.

Perfitt knotted the score for the Warriors with seven minutes and twenty seconds remaining in the fourth when he ran in left side and bounced in his third goal of the evening. With less than two minute remaining, McKeon pulled out two back-to-back, one-on-one stops that defied reason. The first came as redemption for his own errant clear as a Warrior leapt to intercept the ball, attempted to place a fake on him and promptly had the ball swallowed up. Off the clear from this save, Genny again coughed up the ball within a few feet of McKeon who again stuffed the Warrior attempt at victory and all but took the wind out of Liverpool's sails. After nearly two minutes of waiting for the last shot by Liverpool, Genny had 3 failed shots within the final 27 seconds, one of them a pipe shot by senior Tim Griffin and two point blank saves by Sullivan before the game headed into overtime.

The four minute sudden death overtime began with the Wildcats throwing away their first attempt which was followed by a series of five or six Liverpool shots that sailed left , right or high including a scrum in front of a nearly empty cage that almost spelled defeat for the Wildcats. Off a time out called by Coach Mike Messere to script a final shot, Genny quicky picked the through the Warrior defense until senior Mark Cometti ended up with the ball in his cross. From 15 yards out the Wildcat co-captain then broke for the goal from the right side and beat 'Pool's Steve Szczesniak then being converged on by the trio of Kevin Murphy, Matt Szczesniak and Josh Kline while ripping a left-handed shot into the top left corner with 18.9 seconds past the hulking Sullivan to claim the 6-5 victory. With the win, the 'Cats next meet the undefeated Cicero-North Syracuse Northstars in a battle of unbeatens at Wildcat Stadium on Thursday morning.