Perhaps just in time, the Baldwinsville field hockey team rediscovered its scoring touch, at least in a couple of instances.
The Bees were 5-7 going into the penultimate week of the regular season, and after so many games where it could not get on the board, it finally started to strike early in last Tuesday’s Senior Night battle with East Syracuse Minoa.
Led by senior Emma Brushingham, who scored twice, the Bees bolted out to a 2-0 halftime advantage and did just enough down the stretch to hold off the Spartans 3-2.
B’ville’s other goal came from R Manitone as Leah Tuch and Kendall Carni both got credit for assists. Yet it took Sarah Smiley earning 13 saves to withstand ESM’s late push as Rileigh White and Angelina Dodge both scored in the second half.
Two nights later, the Bees had a chance to make an even louder statement when it traveled to SCAC leader Fayetteville-Manlius, but once again its attack went quiet and it led to a 1-0 defeat to the Hornets.
When these teams had first met Sept. 16 at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, it went to overtime and F-M pulled it out 2-1. Nearly a month later, it again was difficult for the two sides to separate.
The flow of play was relatively even, each side ending up with a handful of direct looks. B’ville could not get any of its four shots home, but F-M did so thanks to a single goal from Avery Moses. Otherwise, Smiley turned everything back and finished with five saves.
In Saturday’s game at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, B’ville put together four unanswered goals in the first half and went on to score a 7-1 victory over the Red Devils.
Sarah Dusse led a well-balanced attack, scoring twice as Julia Schultz got two assists. Tuch, Carni, Sydney Huhtala, Paige Morrissey and Victoria Schultz also had goals, with Brushingham contributing an assist.
Following Tuesday’s regular-season finale against Vestal, the Bees would rest up and practice further before finding out where it would go for the Section III Class A playoffs.
