Two Baldiwnsville lacrosse teams charged into their respective New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class A tournaments on Saturday – and emerged as regional champions.
In the morning at Ithaca High School, the girls lacrosse Bees found itself in a wild shootout with Section IV champion Corning, but was still able to pull away late and prevail 23-14.
Hours later, at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium, the boys lacrosse Bees also met Corning – and also won its Class A regional final, wearing down the opposition and rolling to a 13-2 victory.
B’ville’s girls had outscored its two Section III playoff opponents (CBA and Liverpool) by a combined 43-11 margin, and may have expected the same kind of romp against Corning, but that’s not what happened right away.
It was the Hawks moving out in front in the opening minutes before the Bees’ attack began to find its rhythm late in the first half, putting together the same string of goals that had paralyzed most opponents this spring.
By halftime, B’ville led 12-6, but even with this Corning didn’t wilt, claiming seven consecutive draws early in the second half and chipping away at the margin until it was within two, 14-12, with 17 minutes left.
Any concerns were quickly erased, though, when the Bees made some defensive stops and then relentlessly attacked. Instead of sitting on its lead, it outscored the Hawks 10-1 over the home stretch.
Carlie Desimone had a role in half the Bees’ scoring plays, finishing with six goals and six assists, while Mia Pozzi dished out a career-best nine assists to go with her four tallies.
Grace Hollenbeck also scored four times, adding two assists. Sophia Muscoino and Brianna Peters had three-goal hat tricks as Sarah Hunter converted twice and Emma Hollenbeck earned a goal.
When it was the B’ville boys lacrosse team’s turn eight days removed from a second-half surge stopped Liverpool in the Class A sectional final, it made sure Corning never entertained thoughts of an upset.
Not until midway through the first quarter did the Bees go in front for good with Colin Doyle’s goal, but it constantly had possession thanks to Jacob Czyz winning face-offs.
Of the 17 draws Czyz took, he was successful 15 times, and that gradually wore down Corning’s defenses even as it did a reasonable job keeping B’ville in check throughout the first half.
It was still 6-2, and within range, when late in the third quarter B’ville struck for four goals in a four-minute stretch to put Corning away, two of those tallies by Carson Dyl and Brayden Penafeather-Stevenson 11 seconds apart.
Again, Keegan Lynch served as the focal point, dishing out five assists as Ryan Quinn scored three times, with Doyle getting two assists as he, along with Dyl and Trey Ordway, also had two goals.
Leo Johnson added a goal and two assists, with Ryan Hollenbeck also finding the net as an effective B’ville defense protected Nick Cary, who only had to make six saves.
Now both Bees teams head to SUNY-Cortland to play state semifinals – the B’ville boys doing so Wednesday at 4 p.m. against Section V’s Fairport, looking to advance to Saturday’s final at Hofstra University on Long Island against Scarsdale or Northport.
Then, on Friday at 9 a.m., the B’ville girls meet another Section V opponent, Rush-Henrietta, in its state Class A semifinal, the winnee returning 24 hours later to play for the state championship.
