The West Genesee Wildcats took one step closer to defending their New York State Championship on Tuesday night win a 9-4 state quarter final victory over the Ithaca Little Red in front of a partisan crowd at Binghamton's Alumi Field.

The 'Cats got on the board first when senior attackman Brian Cost who was stuffed on a 1st attempt form the crease, came up with a rebound off the turf and stuffed over it over the right shoulder of Ithaca netminder Dave Grossman for a 1-0 lead. With 7 minutes remaining in the opening period senior captain Andrew Hanover started from behind the cage moving left to right and found Brian Cost lingering alone out 5 yards with a pass which he stuck high and center in the middle. Ithaca's Drew Evans attempted to follow up with a back handed shot off a loose ball in front of the cage which Genny's McKeon stepped up to stuff. At the 4:57 mark senior attack Tom Donahue fed senior Alex Bily running left to right who promptly fired a shot to the top left corner of the net to make the score 3-0.

The Genny close defense held strong all night as each Ithaca attempt to penatrate was diverted out high or dislodged from their cross by the tenacious 'Cat defense. The Little Red were forced to alter most shots or shot wide on the few opportunities that they were presented with. As the clock ticked down in the 1st quarter, Brian Cost motoring left to right from behind the cage nailed Hanover ten yards out right goaline extended with a pass that he buried to close the quarter with the 'Cats up 4-0.

7 minutes into the second Ithaca finally got on the board as Graeme Gillispie found teammate Joe Myers for a uncontested one-on-one shot on McKeon that found the back of the net. McKeon redeemed himself moments later as Little Red attack Brian Welch who was streaking in ripped a shot which he smothered before being hammered by Mark Keida. Minutes later Ithaca reeled off 3 consecutive shots which Mckeon easily diverted or stuffed. With 5:46 remaining Mark Cometti stationed 15 yards out found junior Dave Osier on the left hand side of the crease where he went top left corner beating Grossman for a 5-1 Genny advantage. Junior Genny netminder Danny McKeon again stepped up big as Little Red middie Nick Acquadro attempted the same open back door play two times in a row which McKeon sniffed out and flat out stone walled both times for two of his 21 saves on the evening. The Wildcats closed out the half in classic Genny style as senior Al Bily stripped Ithaca's Ben Farr in the Little Red offensive zone beginning a fast break outlet to long stick defender Mike Malone who in turn found senior Brian Stanton at midfield who tagged junior attack Dave Osier in mid stride who notched his first goal of the evening to end the half with the 'Cats up 6-1.

The Little Red clearly emerged in the second half offensively and defensively inspired from a half time pep talk as they clamped down on the 'Cats. With 8:35 remaining Little Red middie Kyle Rocco tallied a top right corner blast to cut the deficit to four. Ithaca face-off specialist Jon Yale-Loehr aided the Little Red cause by winning 6 straight face offs to help the Ithaca retain possesion for long periods of the 3rd and fourth quarters and stiffle the 'Cat offensive threat. With 6:17 left in the third middie Graeme Gillispie started from behind the cage, moved out top center, snuck under a genny defenders stick and tucked a bottom right corner shot past Mckeon to cut the Genny advantage in half. The Ithaca defense took their moment in the spotlight as they came out with numerous defensive stands contesting every Genny touch with a double team on whomever possessed the ball and offering the Ithaca attack an opportunity to whittle the West Genny lead even further. Yet the patient and frustrated Ithaca attack could not crack the Wildcat defense which bent at times but did not crack.

Junior Tim Griffen stemmed the Ithaca run when at the 10:40 mark he steam rolled straight up the middle of the field and released a shot while being pounded by the Red defense to extend the Wildcat lead to 7-3. With 5:49 remaining, Al Bily again sparked a quick transition upfield off a loose ball when he hit Hanover off the right crease where he fired a shot over Grossmans shoulder to pad the 'Cat lead to 5 goals. "Stonewall" McKeon followed by again by stepping up to stuff a rare uncontested 15-yard shot by Erik Jorgenson to further inspire the stingy 'Cat defense. With what few opportunities the Little Red had and in what little time remained, Ithaca played as if they were the ones with the five goal lead instead of West Genny by playing a patient controlled offensive attack that resulted in nothing but altered shots or turnovers.

Bily again found himself offering up an assist as he spotted a streaking Andrew Hanover off to the left side where he in turn launched a shot that found the top left corner for a 9-3 Genny lead. The scoring ended for oth as Ithaca notched a meaningless goal with 1:24 remaining as junior attackman Brian Welch bounced a shot in the bottom left corner to end the game with a 9-4 West Genny victory

1 2 3 4 final
West Genesse 4 2 0 3 9
Ithaca 0 1 2 1 4
Cost 2-1, Osier 2-0, Donahue 0-1, Hanover 2-1, Bily1-1, Cometti 0-1, Stanton 1-1, T. Griffin 1-0

SAVES McKeon 21