Four goals and five assists from Donovan Welsh along with Mac Fish’s five points cleared the way for Fayetteville-Manlius when it beat Rome Free Academy 24-5 in the quarterfinals of the Section III Class A boys lacrosse tournament.
F-M (12-5, 8-2) was the two seed and was hungry for a game like this. It had a few runaway victories at the beginning of the year, but, had been slipping down the stretch, including when they spent the final away game of the year sweating out of a 7-6 victory over Liverpool, a team that they crushed 20-6 earlier in the season.
But, this game was just like the blowouts that the Hornets were winning at the beginning of the year and allowed the Hornet sideline to relax and helped them find the confidence that they lost sometime in the middle of the campaign.
That’s what F-M’s head coach, Chris Kenneally, pointed out when he gathered his team after the win. The veteran chief referred to this contest as the “medicine game,” as it featured the things that the Hornets needed in the game.
First of all, the lopsided, 16-3 halftime score allowed the coaches to spend the second half giving players who aren’t in the regular rotation time on the field and the opportunity to contribute to the win and experience what it’s like to play in a win or go home environment.
And Ryan Boshart was one of the first starters to be replaced. Boshart, who had five saves in the first half, didn’t make any trips out onto the field after halftime and handed the keys to Drew Reynolds, who played for the third quarter and recorded a save.
Just like Reynolds, Andrew Testani, who protected F-M’s goal throughout the final quarter of play, found a way to make the most of his opportunity. Testani didn’t allow the ball to reach the back of the net and had three saves.
Offensively, Welsh and Fish led the Hornets, but they had other players step up and have big games.
Ryan Cicci and Luke Burnam found the number two to be their magic number. Burnam scored two goals and dished off the same number of assists while Cicci added two goals along with one assist.
The Farry triplets also found their way into the box score, as they accounted for six total points. Kyle Farry had two goals and one assist while Bryan Farry scored and posted an assist and Tommy Farry assisted a goal.
Just like Kyle Farry, players like Tommy Ryu and Nick Papa had three points apiece. Ryu scored twice and dished off an assist and Papa had a goal and two assists.
Carson Yancey was another Hornet who had multiple points. He had two goals, equaling the number of assists that Kyle Gilroy had. Gilroy had a goal as well.
Their fellow junior, Chris Lubrino, contributed to the win when he could and ended up with a goal and an assist, which mirrored James Rettinger’s game.
F-M’s Luke Miranda also scored as the game was winding down to put the final touches on the masterpiece.
