A three-game win streak had not only pushed the Baldwinsville field hockey team above the .500 mark, it also marked a point where it started to wonder whether it could make a serious Section III Class A championship push.
And that feeling survived last Monday night’s trip to Fayetteville-Manlius intact, even though the Bees could not hold on to a second-half lead in a 2-1 defeat to the CNY Counties League-leading Hornets.
B’ville had lost at home to F-M by a 1-0 margin on Sept. 16. Now the Hornets sought a sweep against B’ville, but it wouldn’t prove easy.
An evenly played first half saw both sides having great difficulty establishing much rhythm. Though F-M did earn four penalty corners, it didn’t convert on any of them.
They were still 0-0 when, nine minutes into the second half, the Bees got its second penalty corner of the night and took the lead, Lauren Brushingham scoring off a feed from Chloe Lynch, this just after Caroline Baril had made two difficult saves to keep B’ville out of the net.
The goal seemed to bring F-M’s attack to life. Pushing harder, it started to pepper chances on B’ville goalie Abigail Timmins, who was on her way to nine saves, Seven minutes after Brushingham converted, Craig, off a feed from Kathryn Colone, converted on a shot from the left side to tie it, 1-1.
More attacks followed, and the Hornets probed with patience. Then, with 8:09 left in regulation, Craig flashed open at the point and sent a hard back-handed shot past Timmins just inside the left post for the go-ahead goal. A solid F-M defense made sure that B’ville could not answer.
Visiting Port Byron for a non-league game on Wednesday afternoon, the Bees quickly got back to winning form, scoring twice in the first half and this time not letting the Panthers catch up in a 3-1 decision.
This time, Lynch produced two goals, each of them assisted by Amanda Strenk, who earned her own unassisted tally. Bri Tonzi did find the net in the second half for Port Byron, but Timmins turned everything else away, earning five save.s.
B’ville was supposed to play its fourth consecutive road game at Oneida last Friday, but it got rained out, The Bees would travel to meet Section IV power Marathon Tuesday and then play Cicero-North Syracuse Wednesday at Bragman Stadium before taking on Little Falls in Friday’s regular-season finale.
