In the last couple of weeks, the Baldwinsville girls soccer team has absorbed major challenges from three different Salt City Athletic Conference foes without taking a defeat.
However, the Bees were finally dented a bit last Thursday night at West Genesee, seeing two different leads get away in a 2-2 draw.
Two nights earlier, B’ville found itself in a similar situation against visiting Fayeteville-Manlius, only there it managed to pull it out in the last minute of overtime, edging the Hornets 3-2.
Just like in its Sept. 18 game at Cicero-North Syracuse, B’ville fell behind as Katy Krueger’s goal got F-M in front. Hannah Mimas tied it, 1-1, and then a Hornets foul inside the 18-yard box led to a Bees penalty kick that Kelsey Delola converted.
From there, though, F-M’s defense was superb for the rest of the night, turning back most of B’ville’s runs and protecting goalie Sabrina Suriani, who only had to make six saves
Given ample time to pull back even, the Hornets did so with nine minutes left in regulation as Hannah Knych converted the free kick, ultimately putting the game into OT.
Not since its Aug. 31 season opener, when Bethlehem scored three times in OT to beat B’ville 4-1, had the Bees seen a game go beyond regulation, but here it didn’t let F-M do much in the 20 minutes of extra time.
And just as it looked like the Hornets were going to escape with a hard-earned draw, Mimas returned and, with 28 seconds left, flicked a shot past Suriani to win it for B’ville.
Sufficiently tested, the Bees would go to Camillus two nights later and face a West Genesee side it beat 3-0 on Sept. 11, but here it would not be as lopsided.
Simone Neivel, off a feed from Kelsey Delola, pushed the Bees in front midway through the first half, only to have WG tie it less than two minutes before intermission.
The second half saw Delola get a second assist on a Sophia Cavallaro goal early, and it stayed 2-1 until, with 3:38 left, the Wildcats got even again, having seen Mia Sveen and Chrissy Van Allen convert those late goals.
In 20 minutes of overtime, neither side could land a game-winner. B’ville took more shots, but the combined efforts of Caitlin Mills and Liz Croft produced 14 saves, twice that of Bees goalies Jenna Boutilier and Isabella Carter.
Even with this, B’ville still had a nine-game unbeaten streak as it took on New Hartford Saturday and ran that streak to double digits in a 2-0 win over the Spartans.
Mimas and Neivel struck for the Bees’ goals and assisted on each other’s scoring plays. B’ville’s defense improved, too, limiting New Hartford to a single shot all afternoon.
The Bees would now rest until Thursday’s rematch with C-NS at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, followed by a weekend trip to the Wright National Soccer Complex in Oneonta for games this weekend against Elmira and Chenango Forks.
