Though it’s gone through plenty of early-season setbacks, the Baldwinsville boys lacrosse team has also found out that, at it best, it can really give the top Class AA contenders some problems – including West Genesee, whom it hosts this Tuesday at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium.
When the Bees went to Corcoran High School to take on undefeated, state Class A no. 17-ranked Syracuse Cougars last Tuesday night, it wasn’t fazed one bit, and led by the likes of Charlie Bertrand and Connor Smith, B’ville got its biggest win of the season to date, prevailing by a 16-11 margin.
Syracuse’s 5-0 start had included close wins over the likes of Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool, but B’ville, with its potent attack, provided a bigger challenge that the newly combined squad (they were Corcoran and Henninger a season ago) could not handle.
Down 3-2 after one period, the Bees unloaded in the second quarter, outscoring the Cougars 6-2. Now, protecting an 8-5 halftime lead, it spent most of the second half offering quick answers any time Syracuse tried to inch closer and producing 34 shots overall, twice the total of the opposition.
Bertrand helped put the game away late, running his total to six goals, and Syracuse couldn’t focus on him because Smith was piling up five goals. Both Bertrand and Smith benefited from the passes offered by Pete Fiorini III, who had five assists to go with his lone tally.
Jacob Anderson contributed a pair of goals, with Ryan Gebhardt and Ryan Kohutanich earning one goal apiece. Dillon Darcangelo got two assists as Sean Coe and Riley Smith split the duties in goal, making seven total saves.
Though it had some struggles, the Bees’ defense did a fairly good job containing Syracuse’s most dangerous player, Sean Eccles, holding him to two goals and two assists.
Now the Bees had momentum going into Friday’s home game against Liverpool, always a big match-up, especially since the Warriors’ head coach, Mike Felice, is a B’ville graduate.
Here, the start proved far better for B’ville, and it built a cushion big enough to withstand all of the Warriors’ charges and earn a 17-13 victory.
The Bees’ defense set the tone, holding Liverpool without a goal for more than 10 minutes as it established an early 3-0 lead, and then added to it with goals from Bertrand and Gebhardt in the last minute of the period.
Not stopping there, the Bees piled up a 10-3 margin late in the second quarter, and from that point forward, it turned into a chase, Liverpool not surrendering the battle, but not able to put a big scare into the Bees, either.
Still up 13-6 in the third quarter, B’ville began to worry a bit when the Warriors’ Dillon Rogers scored twice in an eight-second span. Sparked by that, Liverpool continued to bite away until Kendall Keahey’s goal with 7:59 left cut the margin to three, 14-11.
Just as it did all day, though, the Bees had a loud response, this time coming from Smith and Gebhardt, who scored goals 12 seconds apart that made it 16-11, ultimately out of the Warriors reach.
Gebhardt finished with five goals, while Bertrand scored four times and earned a pair of assists. Darcangelo and Smith both had three goals and one assist, with Anderson finding the net twice. Matt Abbott and Evan Stollicker got two assists apiece, with assists also credited to Matt Dickman and John Petrelli.
With a 5-3 record, B’ville would take its second shot at West Genesee (who beat them 14-8 at Nottingham High School on March 31) before hosting Canton on Friday night. Just one of the Bees’ remaining eight games is on the road – a May 5 rematch with Liverpool.
