What was apparent by the time the Baldwinsville boys soccer team welcomed Liverpool to Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium last Friday night was that the stakes had grown.
First place in the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division was on the table, as was the top seed for the Section III Class AA playoffs, mainly due to events outside of the Bees’ control.
And when the opportunity to seize control of both situations presented itself, B’ville took full advantage, putting together perhaps its best 80-minute effort of the season and, led by Josh Price, blanking Liverpool 3-0.
Back when they first played on Sept. 13 at LHS Stadium,, a single strike in the first half by the Warriors’ Ujjwal Chhetri made the difference in a 1-0 decision, breaking up a streak of six consecutive shutouts B’ville had earned.
Since then, the Warriors had climbed to no. 6 in the state AA rankings, and the Bees in the no. 10 spot. But two straight losses earlier in the week had halted the Warriors’ momentum before it even arrived in B’ville.
While the Bees were prevailing 4-0 at Corcoran last Monday night, Liverpool saw its 10-game win streak end with a 2-1 overtime loss to Cicero-North Syracuse.
B’ville had no such stress at Corcoran, leading the Cougars 2-0 at halftime and doubling that margin as Price and Ben Rabe carried the attack, each of them with two goals and one assist. Jacob Way had an assist as Nate Hanna stopped all six shots he faced.
Now, though, the Bees had to avoid looking ahead to Liverpool as it traveled to West Genesee on Wednesday night, but as it turned out, B’ville didn’t have that problem, and Liverpool did.
As it put away the Wildcats in yet another 4-0 shutout, the Bees spread things around, with Price, Jason Hahn, Michael Allen and Stephen Foertch each getting goals and assists from Connor Hamilton and Teklu Habtesion.
While that was going on, Liverpool was beaten again, 1-0, by Henninger, meaning that it brought a two-game skid to B’ville and, at least in theory, an urgency that the Warriors didn’t posses1s a week earlier.
Yet the Bees remembered that first meeting, and in the rematch would clamp down further. Habtesion joined Jack Branigan, Alex Charest and Jared Kantak on a back line that made several key stops while Hanna recorded nine saves.
On the other end, the Warriors could not keep Price from a special evening. Helping B’ville go in front 1-0 by halftime, Price led the getaway late, too, not letting up until he had scored twice and assisted on Brennan Walsh’s goal.
Way and Ben Rabe each assisted on Price’s goals, and B’ville found itself at 12-1 going into the last week of the regular season, where it would go to the Gillette Road complex to face C-NS Tuesday, hosts Fayetteville-Manlius on Thursday and plays Saturday night at Henninger.
