Geneva surprised many with their exciting 9-7 win over last year's Class B Champion, Irondequoit in a game played at Hobart College in Geneva today. The Eagles scored first and after Geneva came back for the tie Irondequoit went up again 2-1. The Panthers returned with a flurry of goals and led at the halftime break 5-3. ALthough Irondequoit came back to 5-4, Geneva added three more and held on despite a late comeback by the Eagles. The three other games played in the section were held at Aquinas where Gananda beat Bath 13-3, Aquinas beat St Francis (Buffalo) and Rush-Henrietta beat Livonia 14-10.

-- Rush-Henrietta scored the first two goals of the game and never trailed in their 14-10 win over Livonia. The Royal Comets scored eight of the first ten goals and held their largest lead with 4:32 remaining in the second quarter. Livonia pulled the game to within a single goal in the third quarter after scoring five of the first six goals of the quarter. Senior attackman Nick Binnert led the scoring for the Royal Comets with 5g-1a. He also led his team in ground balls with five. Livonia's Josh Wester led his team with 3g-2a. Livonia Head Coach Brett Wood said after the game, "We held our ground for a while and I thought we, at the very least, made a game of it in the third quarter. R-H played very tough and I thought they had some very good athletes and players. Hats off to them for the win."

Rush-Henrietta scored the opening goal on a feed from behind the cage from senior middie Brad Schillinger to junior midfielder Jason Partridge with 9:17 remaining in the quarter. Binnert scored the next goal after receiving a pass from junior midfielder Matt Hair. Binnert finished the game with four assists for the Royal Comets. 0:25 later, the Bulldogs scored their first goal on an unassisted drive from behind the cage by Wester. R-H added two unassisted goals by senior middie Sean Tomkinson and sophomore attackman Nick Lenhard. The final goal of the quarter was scored by Livonia's Mitchell Kinney. R-H led 4-2 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter began with four unanswered goals by the Royal Comets. Scoring were Binnert (2g), Lenhard and senior midfielder Chauncey Scissum. The teams traded goals before ending the half with Rush-Henrietta leading 9-4.

In the first minute of the third quarter, Livonia's Wester scored an unassisted goal. Thirty seconds later the Royal Comets added their first goal of the half with Hair assisting Lenhard. Livonia scored the next four goals to take the score to within a single goal. Simpson, Wester, Derek Bishopp and Dustin Ayers each scored for the Bulldogs. The final goal of the third quarter was scored by Binnert, giving the Royal Comets a two goal lead. R-H continued to control the game as they outscored the Bulldogs 3-1 in the final quarter.

Kinney and Bishopp led the ground ball count for Livonia with eleven each. Overall, the Bulldogs took forty-one shots with thirty-one taken by Bishopp (11), Wester (11) and Kinney (9). In the cage, junior goaltender Jordan Cauwels finished with six saves. For R-H, senior goalie McKenzie Spooner finished with 14 saves (58%).

 

-- Gananda scored the first five goals and the last five goals in their 13-3 win over Bath. The Blue Panthers were led in scoring by senior midfielder Josh Anken with 1g-4a. Senior Kyler Friesner and junior Colin Brillian each finished the game with four goals. Sophomore midfielder Nick Rapp finished with a team leading 12 ground balls. Freshman defenseman Dylan Joy finished with eleven ground balls for the Blue Panthers. Rapp and Joy were both major players at the face off. Rap finished 12/12 (100%) and eight face off ground balls. Joy finished with four ground balls from the face off. Joy also finished with four one-on-one defensive take-aways during the game. In the cage, senior goalie Brandon Smith finished with three saves (50%).

All three Bath goals were scored by freshman midfielder Michael Rice. Rice finished the game with half the total shots for the Rams (10/20). Junior midfielder Mitch Fuller finished with a team leading five ground balls.

Gananda Head Coach Michael Pane later said, "We had a solid team performance, with much of the credit going to our defense (Brandon Smith, Dylan Joy, Kevin Schutt, Chase Reeves, Allyn Sanderson, Nick Smith and Brandon Ptak). With only three starters returning and having had no scrimmages, Gananda played much better than expected, and it is the first time in our three year Varsity history that Gananda has started at 1-0."

 

-- Aquinas scored the first six goals of the game and never trailed in their 9-6 win over St. Francis (Section Six). Although the Reds were within two goals in the fourth quarter, the Little Irish added the final goal of the game. Aquinas saw impressive performances from a number of first time Varsity players. Freshman attackman John Perotto finished his first Varsity game with two goals. Eighth grade defender Tyler Olbrich finished his first game with three takes and a ground ball. Junior Alex Uhlein finished his first game between the pipes with seven saves (54%). Sophomore defenseman Tommy Bell finished with a team leading six ground balls.

At the face off, Aquinas senior midfielder Billy Lombardi finished 11/15 (73%) and added 2g-1a. Midfielder Jamison Whitfield led his team with three ground balls.

Scoring for St. Francis were Scott Dosser (3a), Alex Misterman (2g-1a), Tyler McTigue (2g) and Brett Benzinger (2g). In the cage, Tim Galley finished with nine saves (50%).