For at least one happy afternoon, it was 2010 all over again for the Baldwinsville field hockey team.
Mired at 1-4, unable to mount many attacks and forced to play far too much defense in the early stages of the season, the Bees may have not carried many expectations into Thursday’s game against Rome Free Academy.
But in the first encounter between the two sides since last year’s Section III Class A final, B’ville roared to life again, coming from behind to stun the Black Knights 2-1.
RFA was 4-1 entering the contest, and indeed surged ahead 1-0 as Alexa Sanzone scored off a feed from Kaysie Gregory.
From that point on, though, B’ville’s young defense, anchored by sisters Nicole and Danielle Piontkowski, broke up the Black Knights’ charges. More importantly, they gave goalie Lindsay Farrell a chance to relax, as Farrell only had to make six saves.
Late in the first half, Mallory Porch took a feed from Mackenzie Porch and put home the tying goal. And in the second half, Mackenzie Porch again provided the key pass as Liz Heffron beat RFA goalie Danielle Famolaro for what proved to be the game-winner.
What made it more stunning was that it followed what had become a typical early-season pattern during a 2-0 loss to Fayetteville-Manlius.
There, the Bees took just one shot all game, instead having to protect its own net. Lindsay Farrell managed 13 saves, only giving up goals to Katelyn Gualtieri and Kayla O’Connor.
Having turned it around against RFA, the Bees played just one more time in September, a non-league game against Cato-Meridian.
