BALDWINSVILLE – Absorbing its first defeat of the season against Victor on the last day of April did little to deter the Baldwinsville boys lacrosse team.
Instead, the state Class A no. 6-ranked Bees would return to action last Tuesday, attempting to complete a regular-season sweep of West Genesee – and doing so with its best defensive performance of the season.
The 9-2 victory required just one sustained scoring burst, and it came early. B’ville jumped all over an unsettled Wildcats defense while racing out to a 5-1 edge before the first quarter was done.
To its credit, the Wildcats did settle down on the defensive side, seeing its back line mostly keep the Bees from another sustained scoring push as Shane Staudt and Dylan Desena combined for 12 saves.
But other than first-half goals from Jack Mellen and Teshale Kelly, B’ville didn’t allow anything, with game MVP Tucker Macknick and his back-line mates tracking, containing and shutting down anything WG tried to do.
Nick Cary and Mason Clark had 10 saves between them as, on the other end, Keegan Lynch again anchored the attack, netting four assists as he joined Carson Dyl, Ryan Hollenbeck and Trey Ordway scoring two goals apiece. Leo Johnson had the other goal and Jacob Czyz won 12 of the 15 face-offs he took.
Thursday’s scheduled game with Vestal got postponed, meaning B’ville would have three days to prepare to face state Class C no. 2-ranked Christian Brothers Academy.
When those two sides dueled Saturday at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, the Bees started well, and then jumped out of the gate in a decisive third quarter to put away the Brothers and prevail 17-6.
B’ville’s defense ruled early, with several key stops from Cary as a trio of goals produced a 3-0 advantage. To its credit, CBA would fight back and match the Bees goal for goal the rest of the half.
However, a 7-4 advantage turned into much more during the third quarter, Czyz picking up face-offs (he won 20 of 26 for the day) and those extra possessions turning into six unanswered goals.
Not letting up until the end, the Bees had Lynch lead the way with five goals and four assists, with Dyl scoring four times and tacking on one assist.
Behind them, Ordway managed a pair of goals. Hollenbeck had a goal and two assists as Dylan Wirtheim, Ryan Quinn, Brayden Penafeather-Stevenson, Anthony Menickelli and Reese Gilmore had single tallies. Johnson and Caden Cox had one assist apiece.
In this last full week of the regular season, B’ville hosts Fayetteville-Manlius, travels Thursday to West Genesee and goes to Jamesville-DeWitt on Saturday.
