For all the joy and accomplishment the Baldwinsville boys lacrosse team experienced in 2017, some pain remained.
It came from the fact that the Bees narrowly missed reaching the state Class A championship game, denied in the semifinals by Section V champion Pittsford, who went on to its own painful last-second loss to Ward Melville in the title game.
Much had changed by the time B’ville met the Panthers again on a windy, frigid Saturday at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium – nothing as important as the result, for a fast start and a near-perfect finish propelled the Bees to a 14-6 victory over the Panthers.
Pittsford had seen far more roster turnover than B’ville did – 17 seniors graduating from last year’s squad. And the Panthers had faced some early struggles, falling to Irondequoit earlier in the week.
B’ville sensed that opportunity and shut out Pittsford for most of the first quarter. Peter Fiorini opened the scoring at the 2:15 mark with a 50-yard dash past several Panthers defenders and a hard shot that found the net.
But it wasn’t until goals by Cole Peters and Brendan Wilcox seven seconds apart that the Bees had a working cushion, and Peters made it 4-0 before Pittsford was able to get on the board.
For the rest of the game, B’ville allowed Pittsford to chase them. When the Panthers got within 5-3 in the second period, Adam Davis and Justin Hunter answered with goals that doubled the margin to 7-3 at halftime.
And when Pittsford moved within three, 9-6, going to the fourth quarter, the Bees, not yet tested late in a game this season, had an emphatic answer.
Fiorini got it going with his second goal (to go with six assists) 36 seconds into the final period. Peters made it 11-6 less than three minutes later as Cameron Slink and Austin Bolton would later convert to help B’ville pull further away.
Peters netted a game-best four goals. Bolton and Slink joined Fiorini in the two-goal column as Davis and Spencer Wirtheim both got a goal and two assists. Wilcox and Justin Hunter had the other goals.
League play starts for the Bees (3-0) on Wednesday when it hosts Fayetteville-Manlius, two days before a visit to Corcoran High School to take on Syracuse.
