When the Baldwinsville boys soccer team left Swan Pond Sept. 19 in the wake of a 2-1 defeat to Fayetteville-Manlius, it did so with concern over how the Hornets had jumped on them with two goals in the game’s opening minutes, but also good feelings over it had earned a shutout the rest of the way.
Two and a half weeks later, F-M was still undefeated, and had risen all the way to no. 2 in the state Class AA rankings. But B’ville still carried what it had learned in that first meeting, and then used that same script to get even with the Hornets.
In front of the home fans at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium Saturday night, the Bees stunned F-M with a first-half scoring surge, and it proved more than enough for a 3-1 victory that not only gave the Hornets its first blemish, but also added to the intrigue should a third encounter take place in the Section III playoffs.
One advantage, of course, was the Bees playing on its home Field Turf, where it had not lost all season, while F-M had, at times this season, struggled to find a footing away from the natural surface at Swan Pond it plays home games on.
Sensing that the Hornets needed to adjust, the Bees stepped up its attack and, in the 14th minute, grabbed the lead on Josh Price’s goal. Then Brandon Mimas, bottled up throughout the first meeting, found his way through F-M’s defenses and netted back-to-back goals, his 21st and 22nd of the season. Alex Charest and Michael Allen got credit for assists.
So it was 3-0 going into halftime, and B’ville’s defense could afford to relax a bit. Yet other than Grant Olick-Sutphen’s second-half goal assisted by Cole Teelin,, the Bees didn’t let anything else get past Donovan Moore, who finished the night with seven saves.
It was important for B’ville not to trip up in any of the steps leading to the F-M rematch, and it didn’t do so in last Monday’s game against visiting West Genesee, where it took control in a hurry and went on to wipe out the Wildcats 6-0.
Before the game was five minutes old, the Bees led 2-0 as Brandon Mimas assisted on D.J. Taylor’s goal and then scored one of his own. By halftime, the margin had doubled, to 4-0, and B’ville did not let up, even with a comfortable lead.
Mimas ended up with a three-goal hat trick, giving him 19 for the season, plus that assist. Allen had one goal and one assist, as did Taylor, with Price adding the other goal. Ben Kinslow, Sean Micho, Jack Todora and Jason Hahn had one assist apiece.
Now came Wednesday night’s trip to Nottingham, and it was stressful – but B’ville got through it, edging the Bulldogs 1-0 as it took an early lead with Mimas netting his 20th goal of the season, assisted by Frank Levanti.
For the rest of the game, the Bees applied plenty of pressure, only to get turned away as Nottingham goalie Aweys Mukoma had a sensational effort, earning 12 saves. The Bulldogs didn’t sit back, either, threatening B’ville on many occasions, yet unable to pull even as Donovan Moore stopped all 10 shots he faced.
Meanwhile, F-M was handling its lead-ups to the clash, shutting out Nottingham 4-0 and then topping Henninger 2-0, though beating the Black Knights required a pair of second-half goals. That made the Hornets 13-0, an unblemished mark that would end on the Bees’ home turf.
B’ville, meanwhile, ran its own win streak to six, but couldn’t celebrate too much because it would host Cicero-North Syracuse Tuesday and then close the regular season visiting Liverpool Thursday night.
