Ward Melville came to play and won their tenth NYS Title.  Today, they defeated perennial rival West Genesee 15-2.  The Patriots have faced the West Genesee 7 times in the State Finals and with today’s win move to 4-3 against the Wildcats.  The Patriots took early control of the game with four unanswered goals to start off the game and never really looked back.  They increased their lead through the final 33 minutes where they held West Genesee scoreless.

Offensively, the Patriots were led by senior Matthew Grillo (Providence) with 4g-1a.  Grillo was named the NYS Class A Tournament Most Valuable Player.  The Class A Most Outstanding Defensive Player award was given to junior Patrick O`Neill.  The first goal was scored by Ryan Pallonetti (3g-1a) off an assist from Zach Hobbes (2g-1a) during a man-up opportunity.  Pallonetti scored again with a straight drive along the top of the restraining line and an outside shot.  Malachy McAvoy (2g-1a) scored the third goal off an inside feed from Dylan Pallonetti.  With 7:16 remaining, the Patriots scored their fourth goal to go up 4-0.  It was scored only 0:12 after Pallonetti’s with Hobbes grabbing the loose ball off the face-off draw and taking it all the way to the goal.  The first goal for the Wildcats was scored by Ryan Sheehan with a straight dodge at the cage from the right alley.  Warm Melville added another two goals before the quarter ended and led 6-1 after 12 minutes.

In the second quarter it was more of the same.  The Patriots scored back to back goals to start the quarter with D. Pallonetti scoring on a fast-break and Grillo scoring his first on the face-off fast-break that followed.  The second Wildcat goal was scored by Jack Howes off a feed from Ryan Smith.  The final West Genesee goal was scored with 9:13 remaining in the second quarter.  Ward Melville continued to press with 2 more goals in the third and 4 goals in the third.  For the fourth quarter, both teams cleared the benches to get the majority of their players into the game.  Both teams played three goals through the game and after multiple timeouts in the fourth, many players saw game time.

In the cage for Ward Melville for the majority of the game was Collin Kreig who finished with 4 saves and 2 goals against (67%).  He played 41 minutes in the game.  Cameron Williams and Kevin Leonard split the final 7 minutes with neither recording a save.  For West Genesee, the majority of the game was played by Luke Staudt.  Staudt finished with 8 saves and 14 goals against.  He also played 41 minutes.  Jack Corcoran and Brady Ryan split the final 7 minutes with neither recording a save.

This was the last game for West Genesee Head Coach Mike Messere, who announced a year ago that we would retire from the position at the end of this season.