Though most of the Baldwinsville girls soccer team’s CNY Counties League foes have offered meek resistance, that certainly wasn’t the case when it ventured to Camillus last Friday night to face West Genesee.
Attempting to find out if the Wildcats’ fast start was a product of its overall quality, or a result of overmatched opposition, the Bees discovered, in the course of a 1-0 victory, that WG was clear in the first category.
Winning its first seven games of the season, the Wildcats beat, among others, state Class B no. 2-ranked Westhill. Yet when it took a 3-0 defeat to Jamesville-DeWitt on Sept. 17, some wondered if WG was going to start to descend now that it was facing tougher foes on a more regular basis.
The game with B’ville proved instructive. Though its potent attack couldn’t get much going, WG’s defense put up an all-out effort, closing down B’ville’s lanes where it could and, other times, counting on goalkeeper Liz Croft, who finished the night with seven saves.
They stayed 0-0 until the second half, and instead of the Bees’ usual array of star strikers, it took Leah Burrer, unassisted, to put a shot past Croft for the game’s lone goal, the Bees not proving too sharp in its offense following a six-day mid-season layoff.
Katie Weaver, Gabby Piontkowski, Carolyn Brussel, Gabby George and B’ville’s defense maintained that slim margin as Mackenzie Hanna only had to make five saves.
At 8-0-1 on the season, B’ville would host Cicero-North Syracuse Tuesday before the big rematch with Liverpool two nights later. Back on Sept. 13 at LHS Stadium, the Bees won 3-0 after the Warriors went a player down due to a red card early in the first half.
