ONONDAGA COUNTY – For a while, it appeared that the Baldwinsville girls soccer team was poised to knock Cicero-North Syracuse from the unbeaten ranks.
However, the Bees could not sustain the early lead it gained in last Tuesday’s match at Bragman Stadium, taking a 2-1 defeat to the Northstars.
Both teams had played Sept. 18-19 at the Wright National Soccer Complex in Oneonta, with B’ville tying Westhill 1-1 and defeating Vestal 3-0.
In the latter of these two games, a modest 1-0 lead grew after halftime as Liana Mostrianska, amid a momentous week for her, put in one of the goals, the others going to Nadia Guzman and Madison Kennedy as Audra Salvagni and Nicole Pelletier picked up assists.
C-NS had routed Oneonta 5-0 and Westhill 4-0 that same weekend, but even on home turf it quickly found itself trailing 1-0 when Mostrianska put a shot past Avery Byrnes in the game’s opening minutes.
Much of the half stayed with the Bees out in front, but less than two minutes before the break the Northstars pulled even on McKenna Slate’s goal, assisted by Tori Iannotti, gaining momentum that carried over into the second half.
Despite Alexandra Gomez’s nine saves, B’ville could not prevent C-NS from moving out in front when McKenna Slate, off a feed from Shannon Anderson, converted with 11:34 left in regulation.
All of this made Thursday’s game against Liverpool at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium a bit more important, and B’ville this time held on to the lead it earned, edging the Warriors 1-0.
With a 5-2-1 record going into the game, Liverpool still found itself mostly protecting its end of the field, rarely attacking as it saw goalie Margaret Tifft recording seven saves.
They were still 0-0, though, when in the second half B’ville continued to push. With 16 minutes left, it broke through when Mackaleyn Nievel pushed a shot past Tifft for what proved to be the game-winner.
As a late addition to the schedule, B’ville played Saturday at East Syracuse Minoa, and the toll of the previous two games was evident in a 6-0 defeat to the Spartans.
While all this was going on, the Baldwinsville boys soccer team moved into the state Class AA rankings at the no. 17 spot thanks to its 4-0-1 start, looking ahead to Tuesday’s duel with no. 7-ranked Fayetteville-Manlius.
But while the Bees stayed unbeaten, it had to settle for a 0-0 draw with Henninger last Tuesday at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium.
Eighty minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime went without a goal, just as it did when B’ville and F-M went 0-0 on Sept. 11. Each of the Bees’ 10 shots was stopped by Black Knights goalkeeper Olivier Bienvenu.
B’ville improved on Thursday, handling Corcoran 5-0 in a game where, after a relatively quiet first half, it struck four times after intermission to pull away from the Cougars.
Those five goals came from five different players. Jake Daly earned a goal and two assisets. Aidan Stan had a goal and assist as Ben Webster, Patrick Smith and Andrew Jung also converted and Cole Linehan added an assist.
Then, taking on Liverpool Saturday at LHS Stadium, the Bees again pulled off a shutout, blanking the Warriors 1-0.
Stan’s first-half goal, assisted by Drew Gates, held up the rest of the way, with B’ville limiting Liverpool to a handful of opportunities, but kept from any further production by seven saves from Warriors goalie Bennett Robb.
