For eight days, the Baldwinsville girls soccer team had to stew on the first-half barrage Fayetteville-Manlius threw at them on Oct. 7, the 4-1 defeat getting the Hornets even for losing to the Bees a few weeks earlier.
A combination of tough practices and much-needed rest for some injured players led to a stretch of three games, two of them 24 hours apart, that would close out the regular season.
It all began last Tuesday night, at East Syracuse Minoa, where the state Class AA no. 14-ranked Bees had to be patient before its star duo of Simone Neivel and Hannah Mimas again rescued them in a 2-0 win over the Spartans.
Despite a full range of opportunities, the first half went 0-0. All of that changed just 1:53 into the second half when Neivel finally put one past ESM goalkeeper Isabelle Chavoustie.
Less than 10 minutes later, the Bees were attacking again and Mimas, taking a pass from Mackenzie Miller, earned the insurance goal. B’ville’s defense did the rest as Hannah Johnson, in place of injured Jenna Boutilier, stopped all five shots she faced.
A night later, B’ville visited West Genesee, a team it beat 3-1 earlier this season at home. Bad weather moved the game from WG’s usual grass stadium to the artificial surface at Mike Messere Field.
And it didn’t prove easy here, either, for the Bees, but again it won, 2-1, partially because it found offense from an unlikely source before the rain wore everyone down.
Less than five minutes into the game, B’ville went in front on Anya Putszai’s goal, assisted by defender Gwyneth Madden, but WG’s defense kept the Bees quiet for the rest of the half.
Deep into the second half, the margin was still one when, with 14;34 left, Mimas converted. That was needed, since the Wildcats answered less with 11:57 to play on Eva Poissant’s unassisted goal.
Though it had a chance to get to overtime, WG could not quite do so, the Bees’ defense holding them to four shots overall as, in the net, Wildcats goalies Liz Croft and Caitlin Mills combined for 11 saves.
Back home Friday night to finish the regular season against Cicero-North Syracuse, B’ville honored its senior class, and then went out and shut out the Northstars 3-0.
Having already defeated C-NS 4-1 in September, the Bees quickly took charge when Pia Cavallaro, one of those seniors, assisted on an early goal by Mimas. Then, 5:38 before halftime, two more seniors made it 2-0, Johnson heading home Neivel’s corner kick.
In the 51st minute, Cavallaro to provide a perfect feed to Neivel, again a senior combination as Neivel’s goal wrapped up a 14-2 regular season.
Six teams advanced to the sectional Class AA playoffs and B’ville, with the no. 2 seed, has a bye straight into the semifinals, as does F-M, the top seed.
Those semifinals on Oct. 30 at Central Square will have the Bees against either no. 3 seed West Genesee or no. 6 seed Rome Free Academy, with the Hornets against either Auburn or Cicero-North Syracuse.
