Back in action after nearly a week on the sidelines, the Baldwinsville girls soccer team had two chances to show fellow Class AA title contenders what it could do — and it would get out of it with a win and tie.
Most significantly, the Bees handed 9-0 Auburn its first defeat of the season last Thursday, going on the road to record a pulse-pounding 2-1 overtime victory over the Maroons.
This was the first meeting between B’ville and Auburn since last year’s Section III Class AA semifinal, won by the Maroons. Here, as then, it would prove exciting.
On a gloomy, wet afternoon, most of the first half went by without any goals. But just 16 seconds before the break, Auburn’s Flannery Nangle took a pass from Marissa Rescott and poked a shot past Katelyn Charbonneau, giving the Maroons a 1-0 edge.
That slight lead held up for much of the second half. B’ville had more scoring chances, only to see Auburn goalkeeper Virginia Porten handle them on her way to 12 saves.
As regulation neared its end, B’ville waged one more all-out attack. With 20 seconds left, amid the scramble, Katie Gildemeyer passed to Meghan Haney, whose shot slid past Porten into the net.
This forced a pair of 10-minute overtime periods, and neither side scored in the first OT or through much of the second OT. But with just 2:30 left, Jen Fabian broke open, and fired a shot past Porten for the winning goal.
Two nights earlier, the Bees needed to battle through the unexpected summer-like heat and forge a 1-1 draw with Fayetteville-Manlius.
It appeared B’ville had the edge most of the way, going in front 1-0 on Fabian’s goal. But the Bees could not follow up, despite a string of shots, as F-M goalkeeper Rachel D’Hollander made 14 saves.
The Bees preserved the shutout until the second half, when the Hornets’ Mary Hartzheim put a shot home to tie it.
Charbonneau kept everything else out, earning nine saves, and the two sides would play through 20 minutes of overtime without a resolution.
Another big test came on Thursday, when the Bees went to Auburn to try and hand the 9-0 Maroons its first defeat of the season. It was a rematch of last year’s Class AA semifinal, where the Bees won in overtime.
This pair of hard-fought efforts has B’ville well-situated for October and for a tough game Tuesday night against West Genesee before a Thursday match against Corcoran.
