Daniel Hand Jamboree Recap

The Wildcats tuned up for the 2003 season against some of the best high school competition in the country during their annual trip to the Daniel Hand Jamboree in Madison, CT. The 24th annual tournament took place on the windy shores of the Long Island Sound on Saturday March 29th and featured sixteen of the top teams from Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland and New York. The games consisted of two running time 20-minute halves where all Wildcats saw equal playing time. Between games, both the West Genesee boys varsity players and parents and those from the West Genesee Lady Wildcats enjoyed rest, refreshment and each others' company at the team tent.

West Genny kicked off the day with an early morning contest against perennial Maryland powerhouse Loyola-Blakefield. The 'Cats played to a 2-2 tie against the patient and deliberate style of the Don's at the half. With Genny's starters taking the second half off, Loyolad with a series of scores before substituting freely but the damage was done as the Wildcats could not get on track and eventually fell to the Dons by the score of 7-2.

The second game of the day featured a highly anticipated 2002 State Final rematch with the downstate power Northport Tigers from section 8. From the beginning the Wildcats dominated all facets of the game and quickly raced out to a 3-0 lead before the Tigers knew what hit them. Senior face-off specialist Matt Cassalia took all his draws against All-American Drew Thompson including one for a virtually untouched charge to the goal to put the 'Cats up 4-0 (see video below). The Wildcats continued to harass the Tigers in the second half and cruised on to a dominating 12-1 victory.

West Genesee's third game pitted the 'Cats against Long Island Catholic School League's St. Anthony Friars. The Wildcats fell behind early against the deceptively quick Friars who also posessed a slight size advantage and found themselves down 3-1 at the half. The second half saw many underclassmen step up with stellar contributions to tie the game at 4-4 late in the contest and eventually talley the go-ahead goal with under 2 minutes to go for a hard-fought 5-4 victory.

Genny ended the day against the the highly talented and preseason number-one ranked Farmingdale Dalers of Section 8. The Wildcats and Dalers exchanged goals back-and-forth throughout the first half and played to a 2-2 tie at the break. The second half saw the Wildcats disciplined style of play take control as they steadily pulled away from Farmingdale and closed out with a 5-2 victory.