Of all the fine hours the Baldwinsville field hockey team has enjoyed in this 2016 season, the finest one may have come at the end of the journey.
Trailing Scarsdale by two goals less than eight minutes into Saturday’s state Class A semifinal at Vestal High School, the Bees stormed back and pulled even, forcing the game into two overtime periods before finally falling to the Raiders by a 3-2 margin.
A week earlier, B’ville had secured its ticket to the state final four with a 6-0 rout of Williamsville North (Section VI). While that was going on, Scarsdale, the Section I champions, were doing the same to Kingston, prevailing 5-0, only adding to the anticipation surrounding the Raiders’ semifinal showdown with the Bees.
B’ville was going after a first-ever state championship, while Scarsdale’s only state title was won in 1996. The hunger on both sides was evident from the outset, but the Bees may have brought some big-game jitters, too.
Erin Nicholas, who would prove a problem for B’ville throughout the afternoon, got the Raiders on the board in the opening minutes when she assisted on Emma Schwartz’s goal. Then, at the 7:24 mark, Nicholas again used a timely pass to find Sophia Franco, who slid it past Abbey Timmins to make it 2-0.
Never once this season had B’ville dealt with a two-goal deficit, and with Scarsdale controlling most of the possession, it threatened to get worse.
But the Bees’ defense, led by senior Mariah Mancini and juniors Lauren Brushingham and Megan Doyle, settled down and didn’t allow a goal the rest of regulation, with Timmins spectacular as she would pile up 21 saves by the time the long battle ended.
Now the offense had to come to life – and did right before halftime when Amanda Strenk finished off a breakaway and netted a goal to cut the deficit to 2-1. The action carried over into the second half, when both sides missed good chances, including a Scarsdale chance off the post.
Eventually, the Bees’ pressure built on the Raiders, and with 4:59 left in regulation, Strenk struck again, her goal tying it at 2-2. Carrying all the momentum, the Bees tried to pull in front, but could not.
So for the second time in the post-season, B’ville found itself in seven-on-seven overtime, which it had needed just to get out of its Section III Class A semifinal with Liverpool a few weeks earlier.
One extra period passed, and neither the Bees nor Raiders could convert, though both sides thought it had scored the winning goals, only to see them disallowed.
Early in the second OT, Scarsdale pushed again, and less than 90 seconds into that frame, Nicholas poked it past Timmins into the net, settling the contest and advancing the Raiders into the state final against Shenendehowa (Section II), who also required OT to beat Ward Melville (Section XI) 2-1 in the other semifinal.
B’ville finished its season at 18-2, two wins short of the ultimate prize. Timmins, Mancini, Shylea Dukat, Chloe Lynch and McKenzie Carroll will depart, having done so much to lift the Bees from mediocrity to glory.
Now it’s up to Strenk, Norton, Lauren Brushingham, Emma Brushingham, Mackenzie Wodka, Mary Cate McKee and the rest of the B’ville players to build upon 2016’s great work and try to win it all next fall.
