Late in a season that, at the time, did not look that promising, the Baldwinsville field hockey team promoted, from the JV ranks, eighth-grader Julia Schultz, little dreaming the impact she would have.
A few weeks later, the Bees, once sporting a 7-9 record, were Section III Class A champions for the second time in three years – and Schultz had much to do with that post-season run.
It was Schultz scoring four goals in her team’s 5-1 first-round win over Auburn on Oct. 23. Then, in Sunday’s sectional final against Rome Free Academy at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s Sheveron Stadium, she broke open a long deadlock late in regulation and powered B’ville past the Black Knights 2-0.
“It feels pretty exciting,” said Schultz. “It’s like a dream.”
“She added so much for us,” said senior captain Emma Brushingham, grateful, like all of her teammates, of the way Schultz’s presence sparked an attack that was dormant for long stretches of the fall.
B’ville’s second sectional title in three years, and fourth overall, was a full-team effort in the best use of the cliche, and all of them were needed against an RFA side far improved from the one the Bees handled 4-1 when they met in September.
Aggressive at the outset, B’ville had four penalty corners in the first 10 minutes without converting. As the first half wore on, the Black Knights got more chances, but the Bees’ defense, led by Mackenzie Dickman, Julia Guidone, Maren Roy and Victoria Schultz, turned RFA back.
Julia Schultz had a great chance to score in the waning seconds of the half but was stopped, point-blank, by Black Knights goalie Liliana Ferrucci, who again turned Schultz early in the second half.
Even when RFA had three penalty corners in a row midway through the half, it could not convert, so it was still 0-0 as time began to wind down, neither side showing signs of a crack.
But then the Black Knights turned the ball over deep in its own end and, with 8:32 to play, Julia Schultz ran in alone on Ferrucci. “No one was going to stop me” said Schultz, who rapped a shot past Ferrucci into the right side of the net.
Unlike the semifinal with top seed Fayetteville-Manlius where the Bees went into a defensive crouch once in the lead, B’ville kept attacking late and, with 57 seconds left, clinched it when Schultz scored again, assisted by Kendall Carni.
Brushingham said her team “never gave up on each other” even when it was struggling, which made this sectional title as satisfying as the one earned in 2017.
On Wednesday, B’ville will face Section II champion Guilderland, a first-time state tournament participant, in the opening round of the regional playoffs at Gloversville High School. The winner faces Section IV champion Vestal in Saturday’s regional final.
