Undefeated, and perched at no. 5 in the state Class AA rankings, the Baldwinsville boys soccer team readied itself for Tuesday night’s trip to Swan Pond and its rematch with Fayetteville-Manlius.
The Bees had handled the Hornets 3-0 when they first met Sept. 9 at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium. Neither team had lost since.
Three league games awaited B’ville last week before the F-M clash, starting with last Monday’s visit from Henninger, who got on the board, but only after the Bees had seized control on the way to a 5-1 victory.
It was 3-0 by halftime, B’ville again unleashing its deep, versatile lineup on the Black Knights as Steve Foertch scored twice, with Griffin Seeber and Chase Hornsey each producing one goal and one assist.
Sungwon Choi also had a goal, with Riley Belknap picking up a pair of assists. Jared Kantak also got an assist as Ibrahim Rasulo picked up Henninger’s lone goal.
Back-to-back road games followed, B’ville first going to Corcoran on Thursday night and nearly reaching double digits on the way to a 9-0 romp over the Cougars.
Brennan Walsh earned a three-goal hat trick, with Malik Davis converting twice. Nate Palmer had two assists as Foertch, Sungwon Choi, Owen Tracy and Jacob Daly also had goals. Single assists went to Belknap, Brian Jung and Alex Ervay.
Then, on Saturday night, B’ville went for another season sweep, this one against Cicero-North Syracuse at the Gillette Road complex, where before the game long-time Northstsars coach Mike McCaffery was recognized for his 30 years coaching in the C-NS district.
This proved far more difficult than the 4-0 shutout the Bees earned on Sept. 3 as this game featured back-and-forth play and some defensive lapses, but B’ville still held on to edge the Northstars 3-2.
It took goals by Davis, Tyler Johnson and Dylan Killian to negate C-NS’s tallies from Joe Barraco and Jawadshah Kasimi. Johnson and Foertch both picked up assists, too.
Now B’ville could take its 10-game win streak to Swan Pond, one of just two road games left for the Bees in the regular season as it’s back at Pelcher-Arcaro to face Nottingham Thursday night.
