Injuries and inconsistency have caught up to the Baldwinsville boys soccer team – though it’s still something the reigning Section III Class AA champions can recover from with more than half the regular-season schedule remaining.
The Bees lost, 1-0, to Liverpool last Wednesday night at LHS Stadium, the first of two encounters with the Warriors, with the rematch set for Oct. 3 at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium.
Liverpool, starting a brutal stretch that includes C-NS, F-M and Nottingham bridging the two games against B’ville, kept the Bees in check as the first half was 0-0 most of the way.
Then,less than four minutes before halftime, Liverpool got the ball in the far left corner of the Bees’ end. A series of passes, including one from Connor Vaughn, brought it to the point, where Sam Fuller, from 30 yards out, ripped a low shot that eluded B’ville goalie Nick Lindovski and fit just inside the left post.
Protecting that one-goal lead throughout the second half, the Warriors’ defense, led by Miles Veney, Caleb Munski and Sean Rancier, closed out all of B’ville’s lanes, rarely letting goalie Tyler Lane (who had just two saves) handle the ball too much.
Vaughn, in fact, almost made it 2-0, but Lindovski made a diving, leaping save of Vaughn’s hard shot late in the second half, though all it would have done was double the winning margin.
In no way did the Bees get caught looking ahead to Liverpool, though. Following a 2-0 shutout over Corcoran on Sept. 13, B’ville returned home two nights later and, sparked by Nick Gates, put together an impressive effort against West Genesee, routing the Wildcats 5-0.
Twice in the game’s opening minutes, Gates found himself open near WG’s neet, and he didn’t miss, putting in back-to-back goals that set the tone for a 4-0 first-half B’ville blitz.
Gates later added an assist, watching as Connor Ross, Alex Pompo and Mark McCabe all netted goals. Alex Burrer contributed a pair of assists as Erik Ferrari and Kevin Starr both joined Gates with single assists and three goalies – Nick Lindovski, Antonio Mullen and Andrew Hahn – combined to stop all nine Wildcats shots they faced.
Once the loss to Liverpool was in the books, B’ville quickly moved on, going back home on Saturday afternoon and pulling away from Central Square for a 4-0 victoroy.
The Red Hawks hung in there for a while, only trailing 1-0 at halftime and getting 12 saves from Dakota Williams. But B’ville got away behind goals from four different players – Pompo, McCabe, Burrer and Justin Lado – while Austin Dukat, Evan Ingersoll and Mike Brussel earned assists.
At 5-2-1 midway through the regular season, B’ville would host Henninger Tuesday before getting a shot at Cicero-North Syracuse Thursday night and hosting a key Saturday-afternoon game against hot-starting Nottingham.
