For all the highs and lows it had gone through in this 2018 regular season, the Baldwinsville girls soccer team knew that it was all just a prologue to the much bigger battle ahead.
The Bees’ defense of its Section III and state Class AA titles begins in earnest with next week’s sectional tournament, where as the top seed B’ville knows that, as ever, it will face severe challenges.
Before that, though, B’ville had to get through last Thursday’s game at Fayetteville-Manlius, a game that might have served as a sectional finals preview – and if so, there was lots of reasons for the Bees to feel nervous at the end of a 1-1 draw.
An injured knee had sidelined defender Leah Burrer for the season as she joined Maddie Bush on the sidelines, but B’ville did return Kelsey Delola to the lineup after she missed several games.
Still, the Bees’ attack found itself stifled most of the way, F-M constantly laying back defenders that prevented the likes of Hannah Mimas and Simone Neivel from finding much free space to attack.
Late in the first half, F-M took a 1-0 lead on Rachel Dobricki’s goal, a drive from a right angle into the top left corner of the net. And it nearly held up, but with 12:16 left a Hornets foul inside the 18-yard box produced a penalty kick that Delola converted.
Through the rest of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime, the defenses held up. A reconstituted back line that includes Sydney Smith, Fallon Morris, Gwyneth Madden and Trystan Foglia kept F-M quiet as Jenna Boutilier and Isabella Cartier had six saves between them.
Positioned at no. 6 in the state AA rankings despite an Oct. 7 defeat to Chenango Forks at the Wright National Soccer Complex, B’ville returned home last Tuesday for Senior Night against Liverpool.
Quite unlike their first meeting late in September that ended 6-0, this one had the Warriors remaining stubborn and staying within range, though B’ville eventually prevailed 1-0.
Even without Delola, the Bees put Liverpool under constant attack, yet the Warriors kept everything out of the net after Mimas scored her 17th goal of the season in the 17th minute off a feed from Sarah LeMay.
With one of the best performances of her career, Liverpool goalie Megan Merrifield recorded 15 saves. However, the Warriors could not give her much relief, only getting three shots all night.
After the draw with F-M, the Bees settled into some much-needed rest and recuperation. Since the Class AA sectional field only had five qualifiers, B’ville doesn’t play again until early next week, when it takes on no. 4 seed Cicero-North Syracuse or no. 5 seed Rome Free Academy in one semifinal, with F-M against West Genesee in the other.
