CENTRAL NEW YORK – Only a week, and a couple of games, separate the Baldwinsville field hockey team from the rare achievement of an undefeated, untied regular season.
The Bees had seen Cicero-North Syracuse pull this off in 2020 without a post-season to risk that mark, and had worked ever since to reach the Northstars’ level.
When they first met Sept. 14 at Bragman Stadium, the Bees constantly found itself in a defensive mode, but rode two goals by Sydney Huhtala to a 2-1 victory.
Back home at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium for last Monday night’s rematch, B’ville did even better on the defensive side and this time turned to Bridget Roy for the production as it blanked C-NS 2-0.
One big difference in this game was that the Northstars simply didn’t generate the chances it had in the first meeting. That was owed to the work Grace Hollenbeck, Skye Exware, Emma Ciappa and Cadence Harvard did on defense, blocking shots and making sure Nadia Kozman only had to make two saves.
On the other end, C-NS did see goalie Avery Richardson make nine saves, but Roy twice put shots past her, running her season total to 12 goals as Huhtala got credit for an assist.
Back in action Wednesday to face East Syracuse Minoa, B’ville roared past the Spartans 6-0 as Roy built upon her C-NS success and set a new career mark, finishing the night with four goals.
Huhtala picked up a pair of assists, with Julia Schultz getting one goal and one assist. Bella Nazdan also converted as Erin Gee picked up an assist.
Then, going to the Rochester suburbs to take on Pittsford Sutherland Saturday, the Bees managed, once again, to beat a quality opponent, using a big second half to rally and win 3-1.
Pittsford broke a 0-0 deadlock in the second quarter, and still led going into the second half before Roy tied it near the midway point of the third quarter.
With 8:46 left in regulation, Schultz netted the go-ahead goal, and Roy returned to put in a clincher with just 21 seconds to play, her 19th goal of the season. Both Schultz and Huhtala picked up assists as Kozman stopped seven of the eight shots she faced.
All that now separated B’ville from perfection in the regular season was claiming a Monday rematch with Fayetteville-Manlius and Thursday’s visit from Onondaga High School League champion Cazenovia, who won nine in a row before a defeat to Vestal in last Saturday’s O’Connor Tournament final at Camden.
