Not only had the Baldwinsville girls lacrosse team remained on top of the state Class A rankings for three weeks, it had a fairly good idea where the main challenge would come in the battle for Section III Class A supremacy.
West Genesee arrived at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium last Thursday night, having nearly knocked off the Bees when they first met in Camillus on April 23.
But the second encounter would prove different, B’ville proving too good in all phases of the game on the way to defeating the Wildcats by a score of 15-7.
The first half, in its entirety, showcased the Bees’ skills. Katie Pascale won most of the draws, but even when B’ville lost possession, its defense, led by Emme Foote, Maddie Czyz, Sydney Smith and Ciara Curtis, smothered WG, and goalie Jordan Roy made several key stops.
Things were close until Jenna Pastore and Emma Gebhardt scored 28 seconds apart midway through the first half. Then Hannah Johnson made an end-to-end run for a goal and converted again just before halftime, stretching the Bees’ lead to 6-1.
Even when the Wildcats threatened to close the gap early in the second half, B’ville answered, stretching its lead to 13-4 at one point as Johnson would nearly match WG’s entire output and finish with six goals.
Gebhardt, Pastore and Sophi Cavallaro each scored twice, with Pascale adding one goal and one assist. Olivia Muscolino and Sarah Klein added goals as Roy finished with seven saves.
On Saturday, B’ville honored its seniors prior to its game against Ithaca, then saw the Bees get challenged for a while before a second-half outburst produced a 12-9 win over the Little Red.
With the game at a slow tempo, B’ville had to remain patient, not leading until Pascale scored with 1:07 left in the half to break a 2-2 tie, but two more goals by Pascale and Johnson followed to produce a 5-3 lead at the break.
Gradually, the Bees established some control in the second half, Johnson converting back-to-back goals and Muscolino following up to make it 9-4, and from there it turned into an exchange where Ithaca could not quite catch up.
Johnson (four goals) and Pascale (three goals, one assist) set the pace, with Cavallaro getting two goals and one assist. Gebhardt and Pastore also earned goals as Mackenzie Rich led the Little Red with five goals and one assist.
Before this, B’ville hosted Cicero-North Syracuse, who had finally broken into the win column May 4 at Central Square, but was humbled here by the Bees, who prevailed 18-7.
Wary that the Northstars had started well against other league opponents, B’ville was aggressive from the outset, and steadily built a 10-3 advantage by halftime that continued to grow the rest of the way.
Pascale led the way, scoring a season-best six goals and adding three assists. Johnson, Gebhardt and Emma States each netted three goals, with States adding three assists. Muscolino got two goals and one assist and Pastore also scored.
On C-NS’s side, only Fran Tortora found the net with any consistency, putting in three goals and adding two assists. Gabrielle Reid scored twice, with single tallies going to Brooke Malchanoff and Rylie Kocik.
As that went on, Liverpool challenged state Class B no. 4-ranked Fayetteville-Manlius, and controlled the tempo early, the teams going to halftime in a 5-5 tie.
But the Hornets got away in the second half to beat the Warriors 18-12, seeing Annie Steigerwald net five goals and add five assists, while Kiera Shanley had four goals and three others – Katie Shanley, Kaylee Steigerwald and Maddie Noel – get three goals apiece.
Unable to match that kind of production, Liverpool still had Colleen Tifft score five times, with Emily Salanger getting three goals. Makayla Farino found the net twice as Bella Brancato got a goal and two assists. Anna Duerheimer added a goal.
When C-NS played F-M on Thursday, it could not recover from a quick start the Hornets made, trailing 13-3 by the end of the first half on the way to a 19-7 defeat.
Only Reid scored twice for the Northstars, with single goals going to Tortora, Gabriella Ciciarelli, Victoria Iannotti, Molly Malchanoff and Brooke Malchanoff. F-M got three goals and six assists from Kaylee Steigerwald as Maddie Noel and Kiera Shanley both finished with five goals.
C-NS lost, 18-7, to Pittsford on Saturday, this after another Section V team, Brighton, beat Liverpool 13-9 Friday despite Tifft’s three goals and Salanger getting two goals and three assists. Brancato also scored twice, single goals going to Jenna Irwin and Caroline Stevens.
