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CATS GO WILD -DEFEAT RFA LADY LAXERS 21-5
04/29/10
ERIN THOMAS RECORDS A HAT TRICK FOR RFA
JEFF PEXTON/PHOTOS JEFF PEXTON
 The West Genesee Wildcats girls lacrosse team rolled into RFA Stadium tonight with a 9-1 record and ranked #1 in New York State. Playing host would be the RFA Black Knights, coming in with a record of 2-7 and hoping for a big upset. MHTS visited to cover the game of the week on a chilly windy afternoon that was made to feel warmer by brave fans who cheered on their favorite team.
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The Knights jumped right out and punched the mighty Cats right in the collective nose when Erin Thomas, one of only four seniors on coach Linda Harjung's RFA squad, took the ball end to end and put a shot past West Genny goalie Sarah Elmer to give the home team a quick 1-0 lead.
(On the move...RFA's Erin Thomas races up field enroute to her second goal of the game.)
The Cats came right back and showed why they are atop the first state poll of the season, when Katey Hart scored two goals and Lauren Michaels and Shannon Hawley scored one a piece, in the span of three minutes, to give the Cats a 4-1 advantage with just under twenty minutes left in the first half
Erin Thomas and Olga Russell gave the Knights a reason to believe, scoring consecutive goals to pull the home team to within 4-3 with 18:18 to go in the first.
The two teams traded goals as West Genny's Emily Tripodi and RFA's Thomas scored to make it 5-4 Cats with 15:38 to go in the half and the Lady Knights were standing toe to toe with the best team in New York!
(RFA's Alexa Sanzone (1) has the ball checked away by West Genesee defender Julie Dussing (14) during second half action.)
 The next fifteen minutes of the opening stanza showed exactly what West Genesee is capable of. The Wildcats rattled off 9 unanswered goals to blow open, what was moments earlier, a very tight game.
Kara Datellas tallied three times, Katey Hart scored twice, while Mel Murphy and Emily Tripodi notched one goal each in the first half ending blitz, to make it 14-4.
The second half proved to be much more of the same, as West Genesee scored the first 7 goals of half number two to run the score to 21-4 with 7:01 to go in the game. Bridget Alberts scored a hat trick, while Mary Ferranti scored two goals and Morgan Corso and Tripodi netted a goal a piece in the second half Wildcats barrage.
(RFA's Rachel Noone (19) looks for room to shoot, but is denied by West Genesee defenders Mary Ferranti (8) and Nicole Desko (10) late in the game.)
Hats off to the young Romans, who never quit regardless of what the numbers on the scoreboard read. Mariah Puchyr scored RFA's fifth and final goal of the game with 3:04 remaining to give her team something to smile about.
Mariah Famolaro finished with 10 saves for Rome (2-7) while Sarah Elmer stopped 4 for West Genesee (10-2).
West Genesee 21 Rome Free Academy 5
Box Score
1 2 Total
West Genesee 14 7 21
RFA 4 1 5
(West Genesee attack Emily Tripodi (4) readies to fire a shot as RFA defender Rachel Noone (19) moves to intercept.)
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