ONONDAGA COUNTY – Not only was the Baldwinsville boys soccer team dealing with the rare adversity of back-to-back defeats, it also had not scored a goal in a while.
So it might not be a stretch to say that Evan Smith, with the stunning hat trick he put together in last Tuesday night’s 3-0 victory over West Genesee at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, may have saved the Bees’ season.
Shutout losses to Fayetteville-Manlius (2-0) and East Syracuse Minoa (3-0) had dropped B’ville out of the state Class AA rankings.
Now it met a West Genesee side that pushed the Bees to overtime back on Sept. 14 in Camillus, and like that first meeting the two sides played through a scoreless first half.
They were still 0-0 when, in the 55th minute, Smith broke free and, taking a pass from Greg Ramin, put a shot past Wildcats goalkeeper Anthony Augello.
Less than five minutes later, Smith’s header, again fed by Ramin, made it 2-0, and with 13:34 left, it was Aiden Baker passing it to Smith, who calmly converted his third goal in a span of less than 13 minutes.
Now the question was whether this could carry over into Thursday’s game against Cicero-North Syracuse, another league rival the Bees had beaten 1-0 earlier this season.
This one would have the same result, mostly thanks to a B’ville defense which continued to clamp down on the opposition, turning away a host of opportunities from the Northstars.
Emmett Bauer faced nine shots and stopped them all, and that effort was rewarded when, with 16:08 left in regulation, Smith again proved the difference-maker, netting the game’s only goal as Ramin once more got the assist.
Carrying the momentum from this game, B’ville then flattened Liverpool 4-0 in an impressive Saturday-afternoon performance.
Finally, Smith was able to get some help on offense, as he was just one of four goal-scorers. Keagan Hayes, Miles Spiegel and Jack Higman all joined Smith in the scoring column as assists went to Ramin and Ryan Pelletier.
In girls soccer, B’ville”s Liana Mostrianska, who is leaving for Europe and her opportunity to play for Ukraine’s Under-19 team at the Euro 2020 tourament in the Netherlands, was formally honored at last Monday’s Board of Education meeting.
Before Mostrianska left, though, she helped the Bees once more in last Friday’s game against Christian Brothers Academy, a 2-0 victory.
Mostrianka’s goal, along with one from Adrianna Orlando, helped B’ville gain a bit of confidence in advance of a showdown the next afternoon against unbeaten, state Class AA no. 8-ranked Cicero-North Syracuse.
Having lost a 2-1 battle to the Northstars on Sept. 21, the Bees were eager to see if it could spring a surprise in the rematch, and again it was close – but again, B’ville lost, this time 1-0.
Even though it was playing for the third time in four days, C-NS got out in front in the first half thanks to a goal by McKenna Slate, assisted by Tori Iannotti.
B’ville’s defense stopped everything else, Maeve Bartell ending up with eight saves, but none of the Bees’ six shots made it past Avery Byrnes as C-NS improved to 13-0-1.
