Now the Baldwinsville field hockey is assured of a return to the Section III Class A playoffs, though it had to go through a lot of stress before getting there.
During last Monday night’s game at Cortland, the Bees trailed by two goals at halftime, and needed a big offensive surge in the latter stages to edge past the Purple Tigers 4-3.
The first 30 minutes belonged, mostly, to Cortland forward Erin Brown. Three times, Brown slid free of B’ville defenders and fired shots past Kaitlyn Gee, earning herself a natural hat trick and putting the Bees in a 3-1 deficit at the break.
But with a far deeper roster and more options, B’ville gradually wore Cortland’s defenses down and made its own surge in the second half, pulling even and then getting in front to stay.
Contrasting Brown’s one-girl effort, four different Bees – Jade Earle, Mackenzie Carhart, Hannah Wood and Mackenzie Kimball – had the four goals. Serena Capsello and Amanda Strenk chimed in with one assist apiece.
Back home on Wednesday afternoon, B’ville faced Port Byron. This time around, offense was in short supply, but the outcome was the same – a narrow Bees victory, this one by a 1-0 margin.
Once Amanda Strenk had hit on an unassisted goal in the first half, B’ville would find itself spending the rest of the afternoon protecting that slim margin. The Panthers had plenty of chances to get even, but the defense held up, and Gee stopped all six shots she faced.
These wins pushed B’ville’s record to 7-5 and, more importantly, clinched that sectional playoff berth after it missed the post-season in 2013.
Now it enters a quiet portion of the schedule. Other than next Tuesday’s game with Fayetteville-Manlius, a rematch of the 2-1 overtime defeat on Sept. 13, the Bees do not play for a 13-day stretch until it closes the regular season with three games from Oct. 14-17 against Camden, Auburn and Oneida.
