Even though it was still quite early, the Baldwinsville boys soccer team knew that it could not afford too many more missteps after taking a 2-1 defeat to Fayetteville-Manlius on Sept. 4.
For the Bees’ next big test, it hosted Cicero-North Syracuse last Monday night at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, and did strong work on both sides of the field to beat the Northstars 1-0.
True, it helped that C-NS was playing its fourth game in six days, having gone 2-0-1 leading up to that contest, including a 0-0 draw with Liverpool.
Someone would get on the board in the first half here, though, as Connor Ross netted the go-ahead goal off a feed from Connor Lunduski.
B’ville would get nothing more against C-NS goalkeeper Morgan Miller, who made seven saves. But the Bees’ back line did a superb job throughout the night, limiting the Northstars to just four shots, all of them stopped by Nick Lindovski.
Fun as that was, what took place on Saturday night at Liverpool was even more exciting, as the Bees, trailing by two goals at one point, roared from behind and then, in overtime, delivered again to stun the Warriors 3-2.
Against a Liverpool side that had struggled on offense after a torn ACL sidelined Nick Zingaro for the season, the Bees’ defense had some lapses, leading to a 2-0 first-half lead for the Warriors as Mike Alsid and Joe Pugh got the goals and Kyle Lombard assisted on both scoring plays.
Led by Jake Gentile, though, B’ville stormed back, pulling even 2-2 in the second half. At the same time, the defense tightened, rarely letting Liverpool regain its own footing and setting up the eventual OT game-winner as Erik Ferrari only had to make four saves.
Overall, Gentile had two goals in the comeback, while Connor Lunduski picked up the other goal. Alex Burrer earned an assist.
While all this was going on, B’ville’s girls soccer team saw its lone game last week postponed. Dangerous weather at Fayetteville-Manlius (plus heat from earlier in the day) kept the Bees-Hornets rematch of last year’s Class AA sectional semifinal from taking place.
It should be calmer this Wednesday, when the girls Bees host Cicero-North Syracuse prior to a Friday trip to Auburn, these games falling in between B’ville boys’ visit from Nottingham and a Thursday non-league test at Jamesville-DeWitt.
