For a good portion of the regular season, the Baldwinsville boys soccer team competed hard and gave everyone a tough battle, but its results did not resemble the championship-winning juggernaut built over the last decade.
But in October, everything has changed.
The Bees enter the Section III Class AA playoffs at its peak, making it a dangerous threat to reclaim the title it lost in the finals to Fayetteville-Manlius one year ago.
B’ville’s late surge continued in last Wednesday’s game at Henninger’s Sunnycrest Field, another close contest that the Bees pulled out over the Black Knights in a 3-2 decision that involved a second-half comeback and career-best performances from Alex Pompo and Evan Ingersoll.
Henninger, vastly improved in 2015, was up, 2-1, at halftime, thanks to a pair of goals by Jeremias Pablo. B’ville’s lone tally had come from Pompo, who scored off a feed from Ingersoll.
Twice more in the second half, Pompo would flash and, twice more, get well-timed passes from Ingersoll before firing it past Black Knights goalie Moo Kpo Lo, completing the hat trick. And that proved enough, since Bees goalie Andrew Hahn got a second-half shutout, finishing with six saves.
Back home on Friday night, B’ville met Auburn, once more playing on the grass at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium before it gets removed in favor of a Field Turf that will be installed in time for the 2016 season.
And the Bees put on a show, smashing the Maroons 12-1 on a night where 12 diferent players manage to have a part in one of the team’s scoring plays.
Max Charest, quiet for most of the season, broke out with a three-goal hat trick, just as Josh Doback earned three assists and Ingersoll continued to dazzle, scoring twice and gaining a pair of assists.
Griffin Lynch earned a goal and three assists, while Jacob Guidone and Justin Lado each had one goal and one assist. Pompo, Brandon Mimas, Tyler Luciano and Justin Stephenson also netted goals, with Zach Bush and Kevin Starr earning one assist apiece.
Possessing a 10-4-2 record, B’ville goes into the sectional AA tournament as the no. 4 seed, but that means hosting no. 5 seed Fayetteville-Manlius in a highly-anticipated sectional quarterfinal.
Having met for the championship a year ago, the Bees and Hornets, so familiar with big games, would see one of them get knocked out, and the other advance to the AA semifinals, possibly against top seed Liverpool if the Warriors make it past Utica Proctor or Rome Free Academy.
