Given the small field present for the Section III Class A field hockey playoffs, the teams, including Baldwinsville, get a chance to rest and practice for more than a week before semifinal matches are held early next week at Liverpool High School Stadium.
It’s a five-team bracket, and B’ville is the no. 3 seed. Next Monday night at 7:30, B’ville faces no. 2 seed Liverpool in the semifinals, with top seed Fayetteville-Manlius getting Cicero-North Syracuse or Rome Free Academy (they would meet on Wednesday) in the other semifinal.
In the Bees’ case, the rest is quite welcome, for in the last week of the regular season it played four times in a span of six days, and only one of them, Friday’s game with Little Falls, proved an easy one.
Meeting Section IV power Marathon last Tuesday night on the turf at SUNY-Cortland, B’ville competed well, but took a 2-1 defeat to the Olympians.
The Bees trailed, 1-0, at halftime, but then got on the board with Amanda Strenk’s second-half goal, assisted by Chloe Lynch. Marathon answered that goal, though, and the Olympians held on, overcoming seven saves from B’ville goalie Abigail Timmins.
Then B”ville had to face C-NS at Bragman Stadium 24 hours later. Having lost to the Northstars 2-1 at home on Sept. 24, the Bees looked to get even, and did so, using a goal late in regulation to pull out a 1-0 decision.
All through the first half, the two sides traded possessions and a few scoring opportunities, but it stayed 0-0. For the most part, the Bees had to defend, and did so quite well, flicking away shots and seeing Timmins finish with six saves.
Deep into the second half, the quest for a goal continued, and B’ville finally met it with 5:13 left in regulation when Lynch, taking a pass from Strenk, sent a shot past C-NS goalie Julia Lantry. That goal would hold up the rest of the way, C-NS unable to answer.
On Friday, B’ville took on Little Falls in the opening round of the Rome Free Academy Tournament, and defeated the Mounties 4-1, a game that was tight for a while, as Sydney McCarthy’s goal helped Little Falls forge a 1-1 halftime tie.
Gradually, though, the Bees wore away at the Mounties’ resistance with a well-balanced attack. Four different players – Strenk, Lynch, Katie Doyle and McKenzie Carroll – earned those four goals, with Alyssa Bell and Jade Earle joining Strenk and Doyle in the assist column.
This led to Saturday’s final between B”ville and host RFA, who had edged Whitesboro 2-1 in its opening-round game.
The Bees lost, 3-1, to the Black Knights, only getting on the board with Doyle’s first-half goal as Shylea Dukat assisted. Janeene Yates assisted on all three of RFA’s goals, one each from Madisynn Reilley, Kaitlyn Mastracco and Tayleigha Dyous-Tumage.
