No one on the Baldwinsville girls soccer team expected to wait two full weeks between the end of its regular season and its first post-season appearance.
Yet the Bees handled the unusual scenario quite well, turning back West Genesee 2-0 in Tuesday night’s Section III Class AA semifinal at Christian Brothers Academy’s Alibrandi Stadium.
And it sets up the title game most had anticipated since early September – the top-seeded, state no. 6-ranked Bees trying to upend no. 2 seed and defending champion Liverpool (who is no. 8 in those same state rankings) in Saturday’s final at 1 p.m. at Fulton. The Warriors beat Fayetteville-Manlius 3-1 in the other semifinal at Nottingham High School.
B’ville had last played on Oct. 13, ironically against West Genesee, and that too ended with a 2-0 victory. A front-loaded schedule meant that the Bees knew it would get some much-needed rest before sectional play got underway.
But no one anticipated that just seven teams would qualify for the sectional AA tournament. Thus, the Bees, holding a top seed, had a bye straight into the semifinals, and a long break turned longer – 14 days, to be precise.
Unable to tell how that long a layoff would affect the Bees, but any concerns of rust quickly evaporated in the third encounter with a West Genesee team it blanked 6-0 on Sept. 21 at Camilllus before that 2-0 home win a month later.
Quickly, the Bees put the Wildcats in a defensive mode, and WG did a good job of it during the first half, only breaking when Mackenzie Schaffner, in the 12th minute, put a shot past Wildcats goalie Emma Madonna.
For a long while, it stayed 1-0, largely because WG’s defense battled against every B’ville charge and Madonna was particularly good, finishing the night with 12 saves. And the Wildcats would have its share of opportunities, too, taking 10 shots, only to see all of them scooped by Mackenzie Hanna.
With 13 minutes left in regulation, B’ville’s potent duo of Bella May and Jade Gentile paired up as Gentile, off a feed from May, put in the insurance goal, and the Bees held on from there, moving within one win of its first sectional title since 2010.
