In a tough 48-hour stretch, the Baldwinsville girls lacrosse team would go on the road and try to back up its no. 6 state Class A ranking in a pair of league tests, but only pass one of them.
It started last Tuesday, when the Bees were at Fayetteville-Manlius, meeting the Hornets for the second time in as many weeks, but not having the same stress as the first encounter, leading from start to finish and claiming a 14-9 decision.
When these same two teams had met April 14 at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, it went to overtime before B’ville pulled out a 13-12 victory. Perhaps remembering how tough that game was, the Bees jumped on F-M in the rematch, controlling the draws and seizing a quick 5-1 lead.
The margin was the same, 7-3, when a lightning delay stopped play for 30 minutes late in the first half. When things resumed, B’ville extended its lead to 9-4 by halftime before F-M got a pair of goals early in the second half to make it 9-6 with a lot of time to play.
B’ville didn’t flinch, restoring its margin to 11-6, and though F-M again pulled within three, 11-8, it drew no closer, the Bees led by Glory Johnson, who had four goals, and Taylor Gebhardt, who had three goals and one assist.
Andrea Walker offered the main support, scoring twice and contributing an assist. Five others – Peyton Fleming, Alex Leo, Kylee Scott, Sara Goodwin and Maria Henwood – had single goals. Jane Cote and Mary Trop led F-M with three goals apiece, Cote adding a pair of assists.
On the Hornets’ side, Jane Cote and Mary Trop both had three-goal hat tricks, with Cote adding a pair of assists. Meg Kincaid scored twice, while Amanda Cramer earned the other goal. Allison Macrae got two assists and Grace Bang one assist.
And this led to Thursday’s rematch with Cicero-North Syracuse, who sat at no. 2 in the state rankings and had fought off B’ville 14-12 just 13 days earlier on a windy, rainy morning at Onondaga Community Collge’s Murphy Field.
Now, on the turf at Bragman Stadium, the Bees twice threatened to upend the Northstars, only to get burned by timely scoring runs from the hosts in a 12-8 defeat that was even closer than what the final score indicated.
B’ville got exactly the pace it wanted, using tight defense and aggressive, physical play to hold things down. Then, in a 39-second span late in the first half, Gebhardt scored twice and Marjorie Dehm converted, too, giving the Bees a 5-4 lead.
C-NS called time-out and immediately answered with goals from its star trio of Samantha Tortora, Hanna Haven and Meghan Duffy, all less than 90 seconds apart, and B’ville trailed, 7-5, at halftime, but it was far from discouraged.
Still trailing by two deep into the second half, the Bees’ patience appeared to pay off when Johnson scored and Gebhardt tallied her fourth goal with 9:31 left to tie it again, 8-8. And B’ville got a possession with a chance to snare the lead, only to turn it over.
Just as it had done late in the first half, the Northstars took charge in the final minute. Stephanie Roberts’ goal with 5:19 to play gave C-NS the lead for good, and Duffy, Haven and Bryar Cummings each added late goals, negating the strong night’s work of goalie Julia George, who finished with nine saves.
Returning home next Tuesday night, B’ville (5-4) takes on Auburn, and then hosts Syracuse Thursday before a showdown May 2 at Alibrandi Stadium with CBA, who has moved up to Class A this season and held the no. 4 state ranking, right behind C-NS and West Genesee, going into last week’s action.
