Ten months ago, Liverpool’s girls lacrosse team engaged Baldwinsville in a two-day, two-overtime Section III Class A semifinal classic, but got beat one win short of reaching the championship round.
When they met again last Wednesday night on the LHS Stadium turf, the Warriors had plenty of production in the game’s middle stages, but paid for a poor start and finish in a 17-11 loss to the Bees.
As Liverpool was roaring to a 2-0 start, B’ville had gone through a severe start, from scrimmages against CBA and Skaneateles to a season-opening 11-6 loss to five-time defending Class A champion West Genesee.
Steeled by those experiences, the Bees tore out of the gate against Liverpool. Utilizing its speed and skill, B’ville had a 2-0 lead within two minutes thanks to goals by Claire and Maggie Monnat. And it didn’t stop there, as the Monnat sisters both scored again, with Amari Pollard and Erika Wilcox also converting, to make it 6-0 at the 7:30 mark.
This allowed the Bees to withstand Liverpool’s inevitable response, a 5-0 spurt that covered the next eight minutes and included two goals from both Andrea Flood and Mary Fadden.
Clinging to a 7-6 edge as the half wound down, B’ville made a quick and important surge. Ashley Gentile scored with 39.3 seconds left, and Lexie Pastore found the net just 9.4 seconds before the break to make it 9-6.
Again, Liverpool pulled within one, 9-8, on goals by Fadden and Lauren Mancini less than two minutes into the second half. Again, the Monnat sisters put in goals to restore the three-goal margin.
From there, the Warriors never got closer than two and, in fact, B’ville’s defense, led by seniors Jessica Roberts, Emma Jeffery and Sarah Lindovski, shut out the Warriors for more than 11 minutes in the closing stages.
Gentile and Maggie Monnat both finished with four goals. Claire Monnat added three goals and one assist, with Pastore scoring twice. Liverpool, in defeat, got four goals from both Fadden and Flood. Brianna Centro and Morgan Kline had single goals.
The Warriors quickly recovered in its next outing, a 14-6 victory at East Syracuse-Minoa on Saturday afternoon, by having a much better start, jumping to an 8-2 halftime lead before the Spartans could regroup.
Fadden picked up four goals and two assists, with Flood adding three goals and one assist. Morgan Kline and Meghan Desocio each found the net twice as Brianna Centro and Natalie Perkins each got one goal and one assist.
Liverpool will get another shot at B’ville on April 20. In the meantime, on Tuesday it would host Fayetteville-Manlius before playing at Central Square on Thursday night.
