While the Baldwinsville boys lacrosse team reached many different goals in 2010, including a CNY Counties League National division regular-season title, one goal that proved elusive sank any dreams of a Section III Class A title.
The Bees simply could not solve Liverpool, either in a 14-12 defeat on May 4 or, more importantly, in last Thursday’s 10-9 loss to the Warriors in the Section III Class A quarterfinals at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium.
B’ville’s late surge, which included road wins at Auburn and Cicero-North Syracuse, brought both good news and bad news — good in that it gave the Bees a no. 3 seed for the Class A playoffs, bad in that it brought Liverpool back to town.
The Warriors had struggled ever since that first win at B’ville, its record sinking to 9-7. Once it hit the Pelcher-Arcaro turf again, though, the pull of a neighborhood rivalry, not to mention the excitement of a playoff, lifted the visitors’ level of play.
Only in the first quarter did B’ville ever have the lead, getting the first goal on defender Matt Wood’s long run to the net 5:42 into the game, then regaining the edge 2-1 on Casey Colligan’s tally.
Liverpool used two goals by defender Brian Linger and Matt DiMarco 17 seconds apart to seize the lead for good late in that period, and a long chase ensued.
Twice in the second quarter, the Warriors built three-goal leads of 5-2 and 6-3, only to have the Bees answer in less than 15 seconds as Billy Rumble and Dom Darcangelo converted. When Kyle Styer scored off Evan States’ feed 11.8 seconds before halftime, the deficit was just one, 6-5, and it appeared that the Bees had weathered the worst of it.
But Liverpool regained that three-goal edge, 8-5, in the third quarter, and was still ahead 9-6 when, in the final period, B’ville made one more comeback attempt.
Billy Ward, shut out to this point, finally earned a goal with 9:11 left, and Colligan returned to score just 1:22 later. After Joe Corapi’s fourth goal made it 10-8, Ward answered with exactly three minutes left to slice the deficit in half again.
All through those closing minutes, B’ville would have chances to tie it. Ward, Darcangelo and Styer each took close-up shots, but Liverpool goalie Jamie Campagna turned them away, finishing with 17 saves, more than twice the total of Parker Ferrigan.
So the Bees’ season ended with a mark of 13-4, and two of those losses came at home to Liverpool. Ward, named an Under Armour All-American (he will play in the North/South All-Star game at Towson University on the July 4 weekend), will head to Syracuse University, while Darcangelo, Styler, States, Greg Bell and Niko Manning also depart. Ferrigan, Wood, Rumble and Tom Lawrence lead the returning cast for 2011.
