After waiting nearly two weeks, the Baldwinsville boys lacrosse team finally had its encounter with West Genesee on Monday night at Mike Messere Field, and it had more meaning than either side could have imagined earlier in the month.
Since that April 5 snow postponement, the Bees have raced to a 4-0 start, clearly establishing itself as a challenger to the defending Section III Class A champion Wildcats. But WG would enter that game with more urgency than normal, since it lost twice in the previous week – 14-7 to Cazenovia, then 10-9 to Auburn on a last-second goal.
In order for that game to have maximum impact, though, the Bees had to get through other CNY Counties League foes, starting with last Tuesday’s trip to Liverpool, a hard-fought contest where B’ville was pushed hard, but still got past the Warriors 14-10.
Though things looked good when the Bees seized a 4-2 lead by the end of the first quarter, it spent the rest of the half frantically trying to trade goals with Liverpool – and doing so enough so that it carried a slim 7-6 edge into halftime.
But then B’ville’s defense settled down and, in he third quarter, held the Warriors to a single goal. This allowed the Bees to reclaim its earlier margin and withstand one more late push from the hosts.
Peter Fiorini managed a career-best seven assists, helping a variety of teammates flourish. Charlie Bertrand, Matt Dickman and Dillon Darcangelo each recorded three-goal hat tricks, while Ryan Gebhardt scored twice. Connor Smith had a goal and two assists as John Petrelli and Cole Peters found the net, too.
On Liverpool’s side, Dillon Rogers, with four goals, and Steve Audley, with three goals and one assist, had strong efforts, but B’ville goalie Riley Smith again would dazzle, recording nine saves. Warriors goalie Connor Prosser had 15 saves.
In search of its fourth straight win, B’ville returned home Thursday to face the Syracuse Cougars, who were coming off its first defeat of the season to Auburn. The Bees promptly made it back-to-back defeats, pulling away in the second half to top the Cougars 10-6.
Though it led most of the way, B’ville couldn’t get any sort of distance from Syracuse, who moved back within one, 6-5, going to the fourth quarter. But like it had done before this season, the Bees saves its best work for the homestretch, limiting the Cougars to a single goal and pulling away.
Gebhardt led the push, scoring four times. Bertrand got two goals and one assist, with Dickman also finding the net twice. Fiorini and Connor Smith each had one goal and one assist as Mark McCabe and Brandon Kohutanich earned assists and Riley Smith stopped nine of the 15 shots he faced.
For all that, though, the week’s biggest challenge came Saturday in a visit to Section V Canandaigua. Here, B’ville trailed going into the fourth quarter, but showed its resolve by playing its best lacrosse down the stretch to get an 8-6 victory over the Braves.
Canandaigua slowed the game down to the tempo it wanted, and it worked for quite a while. Tied 4-4 at halftime, B’ville only scored once in the third period and the Braves inched into a 6-5 lead.
Just when it was required, though, B’ville’s defense made several big stops in that final period, not letting Canandaigua score again as Riley Smith worked his total to 12 saves and saw his teammate tie it and then go in front for good.
Bertrand led the way, scoring three times and adding a pair of assists. Fiorini and Dickman both notched two goals, with Fiorini tacking on an assist. Gebhardt got one goal and one assist and Connor Smith earned the other assist.
And this led to West Genesee – the first of two games between the sides in an eight-day span, as a rematch would come at Baker High School the following Monday, with a Wednesday-night trip to Fayetteville-Manlius in between.
