A 1-2 start, even if it included defeats to two of the state’s top five-ranked Class AA sides (Clarence and Fayetteville-Manlius), meant that the Baldwinsville boys soccer team would have to play well for a while to get its turn at a state ranking.
Big wins over Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool helped in the second week of September. So did last Tuesday’s game against Nottingham, where the Bees steadily worked its way to a 2-0 shutout of the Bulldogs.
Connor Lunduski proved to be B’ville’s focal point. Not only did he scored one goal, he assisted on the other, by Jake Gentile, with Evan Ingersoll assisting on Lunduski’s tally.
Nottingham had a fair amount of scoring opportunities, too, but it could not get anything past Nick Lindovski, who played the whole game between the pipes and recorded seven saves, the same total as the Bulldogs’ Bhuwan Basnet.
Yet just when it looked like the Bees had really turned a corner, it went to Jamesville-DeWitt for a non-league game on Thursday afternoon and never got going in a 3-0 loss to the Red Rams.
Forced into a defensive mode, B’ville found itself trailing 2-0 by halftime, and unable to recover as Jordan VanStry notched two of J-D’s three goals, with Tyler Lichtenstein adding a goal and assist. As that went on, the Rams’ defense completely shut the Bees down, only allowing two direct shots.
The Bees (4-3) would pass the midway point of the regular season this week, hosting West Genesee Tuesday before trips to Henninger on Thursday and Fulton on Saturday afternoon.
