ONONDAGA COUNTY – With the competition in Class A girls lacrosse so even through most of the season, Baldwinsville knew it was critical to close strong so that its title defense would have the best chance of succeeding.
Key to that effort for the Bees was the pair of games it would play against Cicero-North Syracuse late in May, each of them a chance to avenge a May 11 overtime defeat to the Northstars at Bragman Stadium.
Now meeting C-NS on the friendly turf of Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, B’ville put together another strong defensive performance on the way to a 10-5 victory.
Leading the back line, Sydney Huhtala, Sophia Ianno, Taylor Metcalf and Hannah Mimas were superb in denying a potent C-NS attack many open looks and forcing turnovers.
And when that didn’t work, Samantha Tanguay made nine saves, watching as her B’ville teammates built up a 5-2 edge by halftime and continued to add to that margin late.
Carlie Desimone, with her three goals and two assists, led the attack as Grace Hollenbeck scored twice. Emma Gebhardt and Jaedyn Frink both had one goal and one assist, with Olivia Muscolino and Sophia Muscolino also earning goals.
Not even 48 hours later, these same two teams met again at Pelcher-Arcaro to decide the season series, and went in a completely different direction from the first two meetings.
More success on the attacking side led to back-and-forth play in the first half, which ended 7-7. Then the pace picked up further, C-NS again getting a giant performance from Fran Tortora, who amassed five goals and six assists.
Still, the Bees’ depth on its attack made the difference as it claimed a wild 18-15 decision, seeing five different players register hat tricks by day’s end.
Gebhardt led by scoring five times and adding a pair of assists, but four others – Grace Hollenbeck, Olivia Muscolino, Sophia Muscolino and Tiffany Natoli – finished with three goals as Emma Hollenbeck added a goal and assist.
And three more games would follow, starting last Tuesday at Fayetteville-Manlius. As in their previous two encounters, the Hornets were tough to put away, but B’ville did so in a 13-10 decision.
Trailing F-M 6-5 at halftime, the Bees would get out in front led by Olivia Muscolino, who netted four goals and two assists as Gebhardt and Desimone had three goals apiece, Gebhardt adding two assists.
Natoli picked up two goals and one assist, with Emma Hollenbeck also finding the net. Tanguay’s eight saves helped the Bees fend off a Hornets attack led by three-goal efforts from Ava Angello and Julianna Cogliandro.
Against a much-improved Liverpool side on Thursday night, B’ville built a big early cushion and needed most of it to hold off the Warriors and prevail 18-15.
It was 10-4 at halftime, but the Bees weathered Liverpool’s late surge led again by Gebhardt, who scored five times and got two assists as Desmione and Olivia Muscolino both scored four times.
Natoli found the net twice, with Grace Hollenbeck earning a goal and three assists. Hannah Mimas joined Emma Hollenbeck in the scoring column as assists went to Frink, Sara Hunter and Sophia Muscolino.
The regular season concluded against Marcellus Friday, a fifth game in eight days, but the Bees did not wear down, instead outscoring the Mustangs 8-1 in the second half to win by a 16-5 margin.
Gebhardt scored four times, with Olivia Muscolino getting three goals and one assist. Desimone and Grace Hollenbeck both netted two goals as Natoli, Frink, Mimas, Metcalf and Farrah Zalla also scored. Mia Kuzdzal added an assist.
B’ville indeed drew the top seed for the Class A sectional playoffs. With a six-team field, the Bees will host CBA or Rome Free Academy in Thursday’s semifinals at 5 p.m., with the title game set for Saturday.
