One side jumped way out in front early and never got caught. The other side had to wait until the final minutes to move out in front for good.
No matter how it happened, though, the ending was the same for each of Baldwinsville’s lacrosse teams – namely, victories in their respective Class A regional finals on Saturday and a step closer to the ultimate prize of a state championship.
The boys Bees faced Section IV champion Corning on the Hawks’ home field, but didn’t let that fact, nor the early (10 a.m.) start time, keep them from a near-perfect first quarter that set the entire tone for a 12-4 victory.
Meanwhile, at Fayetteville-Manlius, the B’ville girls found itself in a tense, tight battle with Ithaca, only to find its best form in the homestretch to put away the Little Red by a 12-8 margin.
One aspect of the boys game that made the start so stunning on B’ville’s part was that Corning, who carried a 16-game win streak, entered the game no. 7 in the state Class A rankings, six spots ahead of the Bees at no. 13.
Whether motivated by those state rankings or not, it was clear right away that the Bees were ready to make a large impression, and did so on the Hawks.
Goals by Austin Bolton and Braden McCard 46 seconds apart early in the first quarter put B’ville in front, with Spencer Wirtheim adding a goal near the midway point of the period and Adam Davis making it 4-0 two minutes later.
But it was the sequence at the end of the period that really proved decisive. Wirtheim and Bolton both added goals, with Noah Ravas converting on a man-up situation, and it was 7-0 through 12 minutes.
Essentially, the rest of the game was spent by B’ville protecting that big margin, with only Mike Tangredi scoring in the second quarter as Corning finally got on the board, but trailed 8-1 at the break.
Tangredi converted again in the third period, and though the Hawks pulled within five, 9-4, Bolton’s third goal, with nine minutes left, initiated a closing charge as Davis and McCard added late tallies.
Just as B’ville’s boys were clinching its regional win, the state Class A no. 1-ranked girls Bees were having far more stress with an Ithaca side it had to work hard to beat 12-9 exactly three weeks earlier.
Back-to-back goals by Jenna Pastore and Emma Gebhardt briefly put B’ville in front 2-1, but otherwise the Bees never led in the first half, the Little Red going on a 4-1 run to go in front 5-3.
Gebhardt tacked on two more early goals, and Pastore converted again with 2:29 left in the half, leaving the game 5-5 going into the break.
All through the early stages, plus the early part of the second half, B’ville tried to solve Ithaca goalie Alecia Nicholas, who would finish with seven saves.
For a stretch of more than 20 minutes, the Bees found the net once, a goal by Olivia Muscolino, which the Little Red answered, leaving the game 6-6 when B’ville took a timeout with eight minutes left.
Not long after, Sophia Cavallaro, fresh off her five-goal performance in the Section III final win over West Genesee, converted to give the Bees a 7-6 advantage. Then Katie Pascale took over.
The junior midfielder would strike for three goals in a span of less than two minutes, suddenly giving B’ville a 10-6 cushion that would hold up. Pascale added a fourth goal in the late stages, while Cavallaro scored again, adding two assists as Gebhardt and Muscolino also earned assists.
Next Friday at 11 a.m. at SUNY-Cortland, B’ville’s girls face Bethlehem (Section II) in the state Class A semifinal, with the winner advancing to face Pittsford or Northport in the state final a day later.
Before that, the boys Bees play on Wednesday against Section V champion Fairport in its state Class A semifinal at St. John Fisher College near Rochester, looking to return to Fisher for Saturday’s state title game against Mamaroneck or Massapequa.
