Just before Easter, the Baldwnsville girls lacrosse team boarded a plane and, once again, made their way across the country.
This time, as before, the destination was Southern California – the San Diego area, to be specific, for a pair of games against local opponents, including one with a Central New York connection.
One change from the past, according to head coach Doug Rowe, was that the team flew out of Central New York earlier, so it could return at an earlier time and get the appropriate rest before the season – and school – resumed.
B’ville, who snagged the no. 16 spot in the first state Class A ranking of the season after a 1-1 start (a loss to West Genesee and win over Liverpool), first met Poway, a team coached by Sarah Spillett, a Liverpool High School graduate who starred at SUNY-Albany before going to the coaching ranks.
The visitors offered Spillett’s team a vivid reminder of how the level of play was still better nearly 3,000 miles to the east, as B’ville prevailed 15-6. And all of the damage was rendered in the first half, when the Bees roared out to a 10-0 lead.
Taylor Pastore and Erika Wilcox each scored three times, the passes often coming from Claire Monnat, who had four assists to go with her lone goal. Sarah Klaben got two goals as Maggie Monnat, Kim Content, Taylor Gebhardt, Kennedy Frink, Johna Kjerstad, Ashley Foote and Amari Pollard notched single goals.
A day later, playing La Jolla, B’ville won by a similar 12-2 margin, this time spreading out the offense as it steadily grabbed a 7-1 halftime lead and continued to dictate the pace the rest of the way.
Ashley Gentile, quiet in the first game, roared here with five goals. She was the only player to score more than once as Wilcox, Pollard, Foote, Taylor Pastore, Lexi Pastore, Claire Monnat and Maggie Monnat got the other goals.
Back home, B’ville would have back-to-back games against Fayetteville-Manlius and Syracuse early next week before an April 20 rematch with Liverpool at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium.
