Two-goal deficits are not a big deal in girls lacrosse, especially in the early part of a game. Unless it’s West Genesee that’s trailing. Faced with this rare situation of having to catch up Friday night at Baldwinsville, the Wildcats not only did so, but with a 16-10 victory over the Bees proved that, again, the road to a Section III Class A title must wind through Camillus. Just as in 2011, B’ville has emerged this spring as WG’s primary local challenger through its 9-2 start. When the two teams met on March 31, the Wildcats prevailed 11-6, but left that game expecting a bigger challenge in the rematch, played on the road at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium. B’ville lived up to that talk, at least in the early going. Ashley Gentile won the opening draw, and then raced down the field to put home a goal just 33 seconds into the game. Emily Tripodi answered 57 seconds later, but the 1-1 tie didn’t last long. Maggie Monnat put the Bees back ahead, and Gentile’s second goal made it 3-1. Wildcats head coach Bob Elmer said that his team battled early nerves, but quickly got over it.
“Once my kids settled down, they played much better on both ends,” he said.
Indeed, WG’s experienced senior defense made things uncomfortable for B’ville the rest of the night. Madison Huegel (going to Syracuse University), Dana Anderson (headed to Le Moyne) and Shelby Milne (on her way to Hofstra) honed in and forced turnovers, assuring that goalie Andrea Francisco didn’t have to face too many difficult chances. Offensively, the Wildcats used five unanswered goals in the middle of the first half to move ahead for good. B’ville cut the deficit to 6-5, but goals by Liz LaComb and Kara Datellas restored the margin to 8-5 as they headed to halftime. After Claire Monnat’s goal early in the second half, WG clamped down again, holding the Bees without a goal for nearly 15 minutes, plenty of time to put the game away. The Wildcats did so with a well-balanced attack. Tripodi, whom Elmer calls one of the finest passers in team history, had three assists to go with her pair of goals as LaComb had a team-best four goals and Datellas added three goals and one assist. Aside from her one goal and one assist, Shannon Hawley also contributed a series of wins in the draw circle, rotating that responsibility with Huegel and Vicki Graveline, who joined Riley Donahue, Alia Hildebrandt and Nicole Bello in also reaching the goal-scoring column. In the last tune-up before the B’ville rematch, the Wildcats, playing on home turf, tore through Auburn 20-2, blazing out to a 14-1 halftime lead, which gave the starters plenty of chance to rest in the late going. Hawley, with three goals, and Erica Geremia, with a goal and three assists, led the attack. Nicole Bello, LaComb, Graveline and Kerri Taylor each scored twice. Huegel, Olivia Wolfram, Haley Rose, Michaela Ciciarelli, Jamie Martin, Riley Donahue and Maggie McCabe also scored. Tripodi had a pair of assists, with Rose, Wolfram, Datellas and Hannah Elmer also getting assists. WG stays on the road this week, for games against Central Square and the combined Syracuse city squad, before the regular season ends May 16 with a visit from Fayetteville-Manlius.