Though this season marks the final one for Baldwinsville’s long-time boys lacrosse coach, Peter Fiorini, he is almost certain to leave having accumulated 400 wins at the Bees’ helm.
A chance at that 398th win was thwarted last Tuesday when the snows forced a postponement of a key early-season showdown between the Bees and Corcoran, who have both emerged as early-season Section III Class A title contenders.
Instead, they would play on Saturday afternoon, and in the most dramatic way possible the Bees would get one step closer to Fiorini’s milestone, using a furious late rally to beat the Cougars 11-10.
Nothing went right for B’ville in the first quarter, Corcoran constantly attacking and constantly finding the net on its way to a 5-1 lead. Even as the Bees slowed things down in the second quarter, it still went to halftime staring at a 6-1 deficit.
The comeback began in the third quarter, B’ville moving within 8-5, and it kept on chipping away, moving within 10-9 before it scored in the last seconds of regulation and, on the first possession of overtime, managed the game-winner.
Mitch Rein led that comeback, managing four goals and one assist. Connor Chapman and Steve Petrelli each got two goals and two assists, while Cody Luke had one goal and one assist. Sean Barron and Billy Hamm had the other goals, with Kyle Terrell gaining an assist.
Dan Thomas had seven saves, negating some fine Corcoran efforts as Mitch Laffin got four goals, Sean Eccles managed three goals and three assists and Alec Smith also scored three times.
Before that, Fiorini would get that 398th win, in Thursday’s game against Central Square, though the Red Hawks proved stubborn for a long time before the Bees pulled away and prevailed by a score of 13-6.
With a steady attack, Central Square stayed on close to even terms with B’ville in the first half, only trailing 4-3 after one period and 7-5 when they reached the break.
At that point, though, the Bees’ defense tightened, and after a third-quarter goal, the Red Hawks did not find the net again, giving B’ville ample time to pull away.
Steve Petrelli scored five times, often on passes from Connor Chapman, who had three goals and three assists. Charlie Bertrand found the net twice as Sean Barron and Kyle Terrell each got one goal and one assist. Connor Smith had the other goal, with Tyler Gornick getting two assists and Cody Luke adding an assist. Zach Dempsey led Central Square with three goals and two assists.
Getting Fiorini’s 400th win, at last this week, requires B’ville to either win at Fayetteville-Manlius on Tuesday or prevail at home against Cicero-North Syracuse on Thursday afternoon.
