Dabrowski Leads Wildcats Past Spartans

The West Genesee Wildcats won their ninth in a row 5-0(9-0) against the host East Syracuse Minoa Spartans on Friday evening April 25th. The Wildcats were led by senior captain Drew Dabrowski's 3 goal, 3 assist game all while being double-teamed throughout most of the game.

Junior middie Brian Stantond the scoring for the 'Cats 28 seconds into the contest by blasting a top-shelf shot past Spartan goalie Stefan Schroder. Thirty seconds later Stanton served up his second point by finding a streaking Matt Cassalia who placed a low left side shot in the back of the net to put the ‘Cats up 2-0. A flurry of Wildcat goals followed and what appeared to be the beginnings of a rout appeared imminent. Junior Jake Moulton tallied his 7th goal of the season complements of a nifty assist by junior attackman Tom Donahue from behind the cage. Thirty-seven seconds later senior Jed Bebee stuffed a nice feed from senior Drew Dabrowski top shelf past Schroder from 2 yards out to go up 4-0. At the 6:23 mark, Cassalia notched his second goal of the evening with a sweet top corner shot that seemed to leave the Spartans shaking their heads with disbelief. When all appeared lost for ESM, sophomore midfielder Mike Recor finally put the Spartans on the board in a man-up situation with a 15 yard bounce shot past senior Wildcat netminder Casey Rotella to bring them to within four goals. Senior middie Pat McCormack then closed out the first quarter scoring with a hard-charging 15-yard low shot with 3:30 left in the quarter.

After some inspirational words of encouragement from coach Todd Freeman, the Spartans came out in the second with renewed vigor throughout much of the 2nd quarter. The Wildcats found themselves suddenly playing on their heels as the Spartans held the ‘Cats in check and reeled off 3 consecutive goals; 2 by JJ Donnelly and one from Rob Renetta closing the gap to 6-4 as the ‘Cats hampered themselves with consecutive penalties and some uncharacteristic sloppy play. Spartans goaltender Stefan Schroder had a stellar game and by putting a clamp on seventeen Wildcat scoring attempts which his teammates seemed to feed from throughout the evening. Casey Rotella then came up with a big stop of his own at the 4:10 mark that seemed to stem the momentum the Spartans had gained. Not to let matters further out of hand, Cassalia advanced the ball upfield and unleashed a right-hander beating Schroder to put the ‘Cats up 7-4. The Wildcats further re-established themselves with a pair of bounce shots; one by Dabrowski from Bebee and the last by McCormack assisted by Dabrowski for a 9-4 halftime lead.

The third quarter scoringd with Spartan Rob Renetta sticking one past Rotella on yet another man-up posession. Minutes later the ‘Cats answered back with Jed Bebee finding a streaking Bill Gleasonfor a ten yard blast. Junior attackman Tom Donahue was on the receiving end of a beautiful pass from behind the cage from Dabrowski and promptly deposited the ball in the net to increase the ‘Cats lead to 11-5. Schroder again was up to the task as he denied another Gleason blistering shot with a spectacular stop to once again swing momentum to the Spartans. ESM then gave their last best effort to get back into the contest by notching two straight goals from Mike Recor and the third of the evening by JJ Donnelly to close to 11-7 at the end of the third.

The final stanza saw the ‘Cats senior leadership taking control of the game. Drew Dabrowski threaded a needle with a low 5-hole shot and followed it up two minutes later with an unassisted fast break tally 6:51 into the quarter. Any hope the Spartans had of getting back into the game were dashed when Cassalia once again bullied past his defenders and notched is third goal of the game to allow the Wildcats to walk away with the 14-7 victory.