Each of Baldwinsville’s lacrose teams have their own reasons to want to beat West Genesee.
For the boys Bees, it means getting payback 12 months in the making. The girls Bees, on the other hand, simply want to turn things around from the humilation the Wildcats gave them earlier this month.
They’ll both get their chances later this week as a result of a doubleheader sweep of opening-round Section III Class A playoff games Tuesday night at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium.
B’ville’s boys, with the no. 3 seed, dispatched no. 6 seed Cicero-North Syracuse 16-8, taking control in the opening seconds and never letting go against a side it beat 14-7 earlier this season, which gave long-time head coach Peter Fiorini his 400th career win.
As if the Bees needed extra motivation, Fiorini’s pending retirement makes all the players want to send him off with a championship, and that energy was in the place from the moment the game started.
Luke McCaffrey won the opening face-off, charged down the field and fed a pass to Connor Chapman, who scored when the game was just 14 seconds old. Then McCaffrey won another face-off and, 20 seconds later, watched the Bees make it 2-0 as Steve Petrelli found the net.
That was just the beginning for Petrelli, who had a hat trick by the time the first quarter was done, which, combined with the goals from Rein and Connor Chapman, put B’ville in front 5-2.
And that was just the warm-up. After C-NS cut its deficit to 5-3 early in the second period, the Bees went on a decisive 5-0 run, with goals coming from Petrelli, Ben Kaminski, Sean Barron and Charlie Bertrand, who scored twice, including one goal where a clearing attempt by Northstars goalie Bryan Schenck deflected off Bertrand’s stick and into the net.
Up 10-3 at halftime, the Bees didn’t let up one bit, stretching its margin out to 15-4 early in the fourth quarter, which allowed Fiorini to use lots of reserves and save some energy.
Petrelli finished with five goals, plus an assist. Barron, Bertrand, Chapman and Rein had two goals apiece, with Kaminski and Kyle Akers each getting one goal and one assist.
This leads to Thursday’s Class A semifinal at 5 p.m. at C-NS’s Bragman Stadium against West Genesee, the no. 2 seed, who rolled past Liverpool 14-8 in its opening-round game.
In this same round (and on this same field) 12 months ago, the Wildcats came from behind and beat the Bees, 9-8, on Brady Hoose’s goal in the last seconds of regulation. If B’ville can get payback, it will face Fayetteville-Manlius or Corcoran in Saturday’s final at noon at the Carrier Dome.
Of course, B’ville and West Genesee are familiar on the girls side, too, through years of championship battles. But when they played twice in the 2014 regular season, the Wildcats won big both times, including a 19-4 decision on May 2 where WG bolted to a 15-0 halftime lead.
That one-sided affair has stayed with the Bees, and it’s quite eager to deal with the Wildcats again Friday night at CBA’s Alibrandi Stadium in its Class A semifinal after getting past no. 5 seed Syracuse 21-12 in Tuesday’s opening-round contest.
That lopsided margin masked the danger B’ville faced midway through the first half. Having not played in eight days, the Bees, who had lost Erin Nagle to an injury the day before, struggled in all facets of the game and trailed, 3-2, with less than 11 minutes left in the first half.
Then Syracuse missed a chance to double the margin, and on the other end drew a yellow card. With a player advantage, B’ville promptly scored three times in a span of less than two minutes, Taylor Gebhardt getting one of the goals and assisting on another, by Lexi Pastore, as Alex Leo also found the net.
That ignited an 8-0 run that covered a span of less than 10 minutes and helped B’ville go in front, 10-4, by halftime. Syracuse never recovered from that blow, though it did close within 11-6 early in the second half before the Bees gradually got away.
Gebhardt, back from an illness that sidelined her the week before, piled up five goals and four assists, while Marjorie Dehm also scored five times and Andrea Walker stepped up with five assists.
Leo, Pastore and Hailey Couchman each scored twice, with Glory Johnson, Meghan Ward and Anna Mazurkiewicz joining Walker with single goals. Flanagan Brown led Syracuse, joining Gebhardt and Dehm as she also scored five times.
Now B’ville draws West Genesee, who will be returning from a nine-day rest, but will have prime motivation of its own, playing on the same CBA turf where Cicero-North Syracuse stunned them a year ago in these same sectional semifinals, paving the way for B’ville’s run to a sectional title and berth in the state finals.
C-NS, of course, could await the winner of this game in the sectional title game at the Carrier Dome, though the Northstars must first get past F-M in the semifinal that follows B’ville’ chance for redemption against the Wildcats.
