Cassidy Bruen scored twice to rally Baldwinsville past Fayetteville-Manlius, 2-1, Wednesday night in an early-season showdown of two prime Class AA girls soccer contenders at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium.
Bruen’s brace gave the Bees a 6-1 record, while The Hornets, undefeated at 4-0-1 going into the match, suffered its first defeat of the fall.
The game sprung to life soon after a listless first half, as both teams scored within a minute of the restart.
F-M struck first. Hornets forward Alexis Muraco broke down the right side and sent a perfect square pass across the Bees penalty box. Cheyenne Hall was the first to it, and the Hornet forward deflected the ball home just 22 seconds into the second half.
Yet before F-M had time to celebrate, the Bees pulled even.
All-star forward Emma Firenze did some nice work with the ball just inside the 18-yard box, pulled some Hornet defenders toward her, and found Bruen open with a short pass. Bruen turned, and whipped a low shot into the net just 28 seconds after the F-M goal.
“The easiest time to score a goal against a team is right after they scored on you,” Hornet coach Kory McMahon said. “If you let your guard down, it happens.”
Quick responses are nothing new to B’ville, according to Bees coach Kathy Morse.
“They have been doing this a lot,” she said. “They have a lot of intensity. Today they put it on again.”
It wasn’t much longer before Bruen and the Bees struck again. This time, Jade Gentile made the key pass, the freshman sending a wonderful through ball toward the running Bruen. The senior rasped a perfect left-footed shot high into the far corner from 15 yards out, and at a tight angle.
“(Bruen) been doing well all year,” Morse said. “She finally converted. We talked about it at halftime how this second half, she was going to come out and make them, and that’s what she did.”
F-M had plenty of time to score and equalize, and almost did in the dying moments. Emily Murray lifted a short range shot that Baldwinsville goalkeeper Jaclyn Hingre somehow tipped off the crossbar.
Hingre and Rachel Valenti split duties in the Bees net. Hingre made three saves. Valenti stopped five shots. Nina Quigley was much busier in the Hornets’ net, finishing with seven saves.
