For nearly 10 months, Baldwinsville’s girls soccer team carried around the bitter memory of seeing its quest to repeat as Section III Class AA champions in 2011 ended by CBA in the semifinal round.
With stars like Jackie Firenze, Claire Monnat, Maggie Monnat, Sarah Lindovski, Stephanie Lynch and Emma Jeffrey gone from that 15-2-1 squad, the Bees set out west, to the Clarence Tournament in the Buffalo suburbs, and claimed that event on Labor Day weekend.
In last Friday’s opening round, B’ville faced Nardin Academy and won by a score of 3-0. Kicking off her senior campaign, Emma Firenze scored twice, while Taylor Guinta recorded a pair of assists. Kathryn Wilson managed the other goal as Lily VandeValk earned an assist, too.
This moved B’ville into Saturday’s final, against Nichols. For a while, the Bees were in trouble, but a huge second-half offensive surge pushed them to a 4-1 victory and the first-place trophy.
Down 1-0 through 40 minutes, B’ville stepped up its attack, ignoring the fatigue of a second game in 24 hours in warm conditions. Jade Gentile led the way this time, scoring twice as Firenze added one goal and one assist. Cassidy Bruen picked up the other goal, with Morgan Marshall and Taryn Guinta notching one assist apiece.
As this went on, B’ville’s boys soccer team, undergoing a massive roster overhaul after winning five consecutive sectional AA titles, went 1-1 in the male version of the Clarence Tournament.
The Bees lost, 1-0, to Akron on Friday afternoon, but recovered in Saturday’s consolation game with three first-half goals in a 3-1 win over Nichols.
Trevor Pauldine took over against Nichols, scoring twice in that first-half blitz and assisting on Ryan Mulligan’s tally. Connor Ross finished with a pair of assists.
Nathan Wagner recorded five saves, the same number as Chris Spaulding had the day before against Akron. Both are trying to succeed Alex Bono, who is already starting at Syracuse University and began his career with back-to-back shutouts over Albany (2-0) and Binghamton (1-0) before a 2-1 defeat to Niagara on Friday.
