Starting in 2007, and lasting for five years, the Baldwinsville boys soccer team withstood all the potential traps and never lost to a Section III opponent in the post-season.
Five championships later, the Bees finally saw its reign end in 2012 as it fell at home in the quarterfinals to Utica Proctor, who went on to win its first-ever sectional title.
With that as the backdrop, head coach Tim Scheemaker’s charges started the work in 2013 with a tough slate of games that included Wednesday’s home opener against Fayetteville-Manlius. Here, little went right for the Bees in a 2-0 loss to the Hornets.
Playing its season opener, F-M attacked hard from the first whistle, and in less than eight minutes seized a 1-0 lead thanks to a free kick that goalie Chris Spaulding was unable to handle, allowing the Hornets’ Dante Pavone to poke home the rebound.
A few minutes later, Nick Lindovski replaced Spaulding in goal, and he, along with the rest of the Bees’ defense, kept F-M off the board the rest of the half.
Meanwhile, B’ville nearly tied it in the 17th minute when Nick Gates charged toward the net and drew out goalie Jim Brady, only to chip the ball over the unoccupied net.
So it was still 1-0 when, early in the second half, pressure from Pavone forced a turnover that Jules Ngadala converted into an insurance goal for the Hornets. From there, F-M went into a defensive mode and B’ville had many good chances to get on the board, but squandered them all.
Prior to that, B’ville made another trip to the Buffalo area over the Labor Day weekend to play a pair of Section VI opponents in the Clarence Tournament.
In the opening round Aug. 29, the Bees shut out Akron 2-0. A goal in each half proved enough as Evan Ingersoll and Jake Gentile both scored, with Justin Lado and Max Charest providing assists. B’ville’s defense did a superb job of protection, as goalie Nick Lindovski only had to make two saves.
A day later, though, the Bees lost 1-0 to host Clarence in the title game, giving up the game’s only goal in the second half as the Red Devils overcame Lindovski’s three saves.
The defeat to F-M left the Bees at 1-2, and knowing it would not get any easier as it hosts Cicero-North Syracuse next Monday night before going to Liverpool on Sept. 14.
