Between her work coaching the girls varsity soccer program in the fall and girls basketball program in the winter, Kathy Morse has endeared herself to a generation of Bees sports fans.
Along the way, some championships were earned, and some milestones passed – including Thursday night’s 2-1 victory over Liverpool at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, which not only kept the girls soccer Bees undefeated at 10-0-1, it also pushed Morse to the 200-win mark.
It only seemed fitting that victory no. 200 came against Liverpool, considered B’ville’s primary challenger for Section III Class AA superiority this fall. They had met two weeks earlier, on Sept. 14 at LHS Stadium, and the Bees won, 3-0, helped in no small part by a red card that forced the Warriors to play short-handed for most of the night.
The second encounter would feature no such handicap, though the departure of Lynsey Roth had hurt Liverpool’s depth. Even in an 11-on-11 situation, though, the Bees bolted in front 1-0 before the game was five minutes hold as a mishandled corner kick got drilled into the net by Mackenzie Schaffner.
An early turning point came when B’ville got whistled for a foul inside the 18-yard box minutes after Schaffner’s goal – but no penalty kick was awarded. Instead, it was a Liverpool free kick that the Bees were able to defend and clear out.
Midway through the first half, Carolyn Brussel lined up a free kick of her own 20 yards out and a hard left angle, but somehow drilled a left-footed shot past Liverpool goalie Megan Merrifield’s reach into the top right corner of the net to make it 2-0, where it still stood at halftime.
Less than eight minutes into the second half, a long run by Liverpool’s Bri Kovarik led to a cross to Carli Kovarik, who converted to cut B’ville’s lead in half. From there, though, the Bees’ defense shut down Liverpool’s attack as Abby Smith, Gabby Piontkowski, Katie Weaver and Gabby George rarely surrendered chances and goalie Mackenzie Hanna only had to make four saves, contrasting Merrifield’s total of nine saves.
Remarkably, B’ville had run out to its 8-0-1 start and climbed to no. 11 in the state AA rankings without playing a single home game, waiting to get on the new Field Turf at Pelcher-Arcaro even after it was open and in operation for a couple of weeks.
When that home opener finally took place Tuesday night against Cicero-North Syracuse, the Bees weren’t about to waste the occasion, jumping all over the Northstars in the first half and cruising to a 5-1 victory, Morse’s 199th at the helm.
Before C-NS could finally settle things down, B’ville had a 4-1 halftime edge. What was more impressive was the way so many different players got involved in the attack, either as a finisher or a feeder.
Five different players – Schaffner, Addison Hornsey, Katie Pascale, Shannon Lauko and Kelsey Delola – earned those five goals. Hornsey got an assist, too, as Katie Weaver and Carolyn Brussel joined her in the assist column.
This homestand will stretch into October, with B’ville welcoming Fayetteville-Manlius next Tuesday night and then hosting Rochester Mercy on Saturday at 11 a.m. just before the boys soccer Bees have its showdown with F-M.
