Many pieces for the Baldwinsville boys lacrosse team are back from a side that went 11-7 a season ago, falling to West Genesee in the Section III Class A semifinals.
Yet the Bees confront a brutal opening slate – six games in a span of 13 days, two of them against defending sectional champion Liverpool, plus a date with Fayetteville-Manlius and a trip to Cazenovia.
It all started, though, with an appearance in the Finger Lakes Classic at Marcellus, where the Bees were in good position in last Thursday’s opener against traditional Class C power Skaneateles, but could not hold on in a 7-5 loss to the Lakers.
All through the first quarter, B’ville attacked most of the way, and it seized a 2-0 lead on goals by Steve Petrelli and Zach Bulak 22 seconds apart.
Jack Fabrizio got the Lakers on the board before Ronnie Bertrand answered with 20 seconds left in the period. Instead of a two-goal lead, though, the Bees turned it over and gave up a tally to Tyler Strods in the waning seconds.
Much of the second quarter was a stalemate. Again, the Bees pushed hard, but on shot after shot Skaneateles goalie Max Smith turned them away, not stopping until he had 10 saves overall for the first half.
All that Smith allowed was Connor Chapman’s goal in the last minute of the half. Since it followed a tying goal from Strods, the Bees only had a 4-3 edge at the break.
Frustrated, the Bees started committing a series of penalties in the third quarter. Skaneateles, at first, did not take advantage of these man-up situations, turning the ball over in the style of a team still working through the kinks of a season opener.
However, Alex Brownlee changed things. The Lakers’ senior attacker fed Taylor Haberstock for the tying goal late in the third quarter, but was just getting warmed up.
It was Brownlee who put in the go-ahead goal less than two minutes later, and he struck again with a goal just 3.5 seconds before the period ended.
After the Bees’ Austin McAskill cut the Bees’ deficit to 6-5 early in the fourth quarter, Brownlee, in another man-up situation, completed his hat trick with 7:45 left.
Then the Lakers’ defense did the rest, turning back all of B’ville’s late comeback attempts as Smith made two more point-blank saves, giving him 15 for the day.
B’ville had little time to turn it around, for on Saturday it returned to the same turf to face the host team from Marcellus, who routed Auburn 11-2 in the other part of Thursday’s action.
Again, it proved close – but this time, it ended well, as a second-half comeback allowed the Bees to fight past the Mustangs 6-5.
Winning this game required some patience. B’ville led, 1-0, going to the second quarter, but continued to stay cold on the offensive end, which allowed Marcellus to move in front 3-2 by the time they reached the half.
It got worse in the third quarter, the deficit growing to 5-2. Calmly, the Bees responded, using three unanswered goals to gain a 5-5 tie by the end of the period.
That momentum carried over into the fourth quarter, where Bulak scored to put B’ville in front. Though the Mustangs had all kinds of chances to pull back even and force overtime, goalie Parker Ferrigan turned them away, finishing with 12 saves.
Kyle Akers, blanked against Skaneateles, was the only B’ville player to score twice on this day. Bertrand got one goal and one assist, while Chapman and McAskill also scored.
