Garden City gets dominant win to reclaim state B championship

GENEVA — Declan Wuchte waved a Garden City Trojans flag around the track at Hobart and William Smith College’s David J. Urick Stadium. Behind him two of 20 seniors in Owen Wuchte and Dan Medjid prepared to do battle as both wielded signs in their hands.

One of those signs was the updated state Class B boys lacrosse bracket. The other was a sign that read “State Champions” on it. While the celebrations were uniquely amazing at Boswell Field, the moment was anything but unique for a dynastic Garden City boys lacrosse program that has now won three state titles in the last four years.

Garden City (21-2) dominated Section V’s Canandaigua (19-3), scoring 12 consecutive goals across the state Class B championship’s first half before winning 14-5.

“It’s unbelievable, we’ve put in so much work and now it’s all just paid off,” Luke Cascadden said. “This was our goal from the beginning of the year.”

When asked how that came to be, coach Steve Finnell simply pointed at Cascadden, strolling by in lime green cleats after winning 16 of 19 faceoffs.

“I think our offense has been outstanding,” Finnell said. “Tim Holman is the offensive coordinator and does an awesome job. And when [Canandaigua] did get the ball, I thought our defense was locked in on what they wanted to do. Joe Jacovina has been my defensive coordinator for 14 years.

We have a lot of trust amongst our staff, and I think that’s important.”

Cascadden won nine consecutive faceoffs to open the game. By the time he had lost one, the Trojans were already up 7-0. By the end of the third quarter as Garden City led 12-2 with a running clock that began at halftime, Cascadden said it began to hit him.

“They’re not putting in enough to get back in the game with us. We’re going to be state champs!’” Cascadden laughed.

Brother Blake Cascadden was similarly dominant, forcing a turnover around midfield before Charlie Koester fed Smith for his opening score just 62 seconds into the game. For Blake Cascadden, the result didn’t hit him until he took matters into his own hands with the team’s water cooler.

“We came out hot in the first half, which was great,” Blake Cascadden said. “But teams don’t just give up and quit. I didn’t have any doubts because I knew our team can do it … once I dumped the water on our coach, I knew we won the game.”

Sophomore Anthony Asaro and freshman Ben Smith scored six of the 12 first-half goals, with the former muscling through a pair of Canandaigua defensemen for his first score of the day.

“Moving the ball, we got a lot of chemistry,” Asaro said.

Koester added three goals and three assists, and Michael Berkery had two goals and an assist. Jake Schlipf made seven saves in the cage. On top of an end-to-end performance from Wuchte, Garden City controlled every facet of the game.

Despite facing a Canandaigua side that scored eight first-quarter goals in its state semifinal win over CBA-Syracuse, the Gray Wolves were held scoreless against a Trojans defense that hasn’t allowed more than seven goals in any of its elimination games.

“It’s tradition for us to be well-coached,” Luke Cascadden said.

“He’s one of the best coaches and persons I ever met,” Blake Cascadden said of Finnell.

He joked: “You’d think they had no life, because they’re literally only watching film and sending it to us.”

Now, there’s only one question left to ask. How will Blake Cascadden’s neck withhold the weight of yet another state championship medal around it, joining ones from 2022 and 2023?

“I don’t know,” Blake Cascadden laughed. “But we’re going to test it out!”