Mired in some early trouble following an 0-3-1 start, the Baldwinsville field hockey team did not expect too much as red-hot Fayetteville-Manlius came to town last Wednesday afternoon.
And maybe that was good.
Free from some burdens, the Bees attacked hard and got rewarded for it with a 2-1, come-from-behind overtime victory over the Hornets.
It didn’t look too promising at the start. Kaitlin Gualtieri’s unassisted goal pushed F-M in front 1-0, and it remained that way for a while despite lots of B’ville scoring chances.
Staying patient, the Bees finally broke through in the second half when Natalie Lynch notched the tying goal, and that 1-1 margin held until the seven-on-seven overtime session. Throughout, B’ville’s defense did a superb job of protection, as goalie Lindsay Farrell only had to make nine saves.
Getting free again, Lynch got in front of the net and, off a pass from Paige Corso, pushed a shot past F-M goalie Julia Magley (who had nine saves overall) to win the game.
B’ville’s rebound against F-M was quite timely, for it followed early-season struggles. The Bees played Auburn to a 0-0 draw on Sept. 8, then lost to Section IV power Marathon 2-0.
The Bees took every shot at Auburn, but didn’t manage to beat Maroons goalie Sarah Reese, who had eight saves. The reverse happened with Marathon as it used first-half goals from Alexis Root and Marta Malmberg to go in front.