All through the 2015 season to date, the Baldwinsville boys soccer team has found itself one or two scoring plays away from a real breakthrough.
And that was the case, again, in last Thursday night’s match against Nottingham at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, where the Bees rallied to force overtime, but still could not pull out in front and lost a 2-1 decision to the Bulldogs.
Nottingham arrived at B’ville with a 7-0-4 record, having just tied Liverpool 1-1 two days earlier. The Bees were well-rested, and newly confident after a 2-0 win over Henninger on Sept. 26, but still found itself in a defensive mode during the first half, watching the Bulldogs go out in front with Jean Claude Rukundo’s goal.
With a tough defense, B’ville kept it at 1-0, working deep into the second half to try and pull even did so. It finally did so in the 65th minute, watching as Alex Pompo, taking a pass from Connor Carhart, sent one past Nottingham goalie Bhuwan Basnet.
So it went to overtime, a place Nottingham knew well, having done so five previous times this season without a loss (one win, four draws). Here, Nottingham would get a win when Mohammed Maalo’s shot eluded Andrew Hahn, who had made five saves to that point in the game.
On Saturday afternoon, B’ville took on Niskayuna, from the Section II ranks. Involved in yet another one-goal decision (seven of its 11 games have been decided by one goal or less), B’ville this time saw an early lead hold up as it edged the Silver Warriors 1-0.
B’ville got that first-half goal Brandon Mimas, who converted off a feed from Josh Doback. Though Niskayuna did not allow anything more, it also didn’t threaten much against an airtight Bees resistance that held the Silver Warriors to three shots all afternoon.
Again, B’ville had climbed above the .500 mark (5-4-2, to be exact), set to host Corcoran on Tuesday before welcoming defending Section III Class AA champion Fayetteville-Manlius to Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium on Thursday night. The Bees also play Fowler next Saturday afternoon.
