If any single entity loved what it saw when the Section III girls soccer playoff brackets came out, it was the Baldwinsville Bees.
Even with a 9-3-2 regular-season mark, the Bees found itself owning the no. 3 seed, thanks to a seeding structure mostly based on records within the CNY Counties League. As it turned out, B’ville had the same league mark as Cicero-North Syracuse and Fayetteville-Manlius.
Since the Northstars had the best regular-season mark, it earned the top seed, ahead of the Bees and Hornets – and they were all ahead of two-time defending champion Liverpool, who fell all the way to the no. 5 seed despite its 14-2 overall mark because its league record was worse than C-NS, B”ville and F-M.
Then, when Christian Brothers Academy was brought into the AA picture, its 11-4 overall record was slightly better, from a win percentage (.733), than B’ville (.714). As a result, the Bees found itself with the no. 3 seed, while the Brothers had the no. 2 seed.
As it turned out, both of them would get into the semifinals, but in far different manners. CBA required overtime to get past no. 7 seed Rome Free Academy 3-1 at Alibrandi Stadium.
Meanwhile, at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, B’ville endured the cold, wet conditions and conquered the same Auburn team it beat 6-2 just five days earlier, on Oct. 18.
This time, the Bees seized a 2-0 halftime lead and added to the margin in the late going, depending on Tianna Coon, Logan Hornsey, Stephanie Roberts, Kylie Scott and the rest of the back line to shut down anything that the Maroons tried to establish.
B’ville and CBA will meet in one Class AA semifinal Tuesday at Chittenango High School, while top seed C-NS will get F-M in the other semifinal after the Hornets ended Liverpool’s two-year title reign 1-0 in its quarterfinal, the same margin by which the Northstars squeaked by West Genesee.
