ONONDAGA COUNTY – What is already evident about the Baldiwnsville girls soccer team is that it is not letting any Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division rival have an easy time of it.
When two-time defending sectional Class AA champion Fayetteville-Manlius came to Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium last Tuesday night, it proved exciting and tense, the Bees in it all the way to the end of a 3-2 loss to the Hornets.
After a 1-3 start, F-M was riding a five-game unbeaten streak and had won four in a row, but none of this intimidated B’ville, who quickly went out in front in the opening minutes thanks to Audra Salvagni’s goal.
F-M tied it, 1-1, by the midway point of the half, and it stayed that way until early in the second half, when a quick exchange of goals saw Nicole Pelletier find the net for the Bees.
Only now did the Hornets get out in front for good, having seen Lexi Caron score twice and Una Vilsak put up a goal and assist.
Between them, B’ville goalies Carlie Young and Alyssa Luce made eight saves and shut out F-M late, yet the Bees were unable to get the game to overtime, seeing eight of its 10 shots stopped by Campbell Dauzska.
Another exciting match took place Thursday when Cicero-North Syracuse paid a visit. Here, the Bees took a second-half lead, but could not hold on to it, falling to the Northstars 3-1.
They had gone through a scoreless first half when B’ville surprised C-NS as Salvagni took a pass from Nadia Guzman and fired it past Meghan McGrath to give the hosts a 1-0 edge.
It didn’t take long, though, for C-NS to answer, and twice in the final 20 minutes it converted to break out of the 1-1 tie as Maya Germain earned a pair of goals and Allison Dimitrijevski got the other. McGrath finished with six saves.
Having fallen to 3-6 on the season, B’ville needed to rebound Saturday when it hosted Rome Free Academy, and it almost did so but, once again, fell short in a 2-1 defeat.
RFA got on the board in the first half, and that 1-0 margin held until Pelletier put in the tying goal early in the second half.
Try as it could, though, the Bees could not get anything else past Black Knights goalie Miranda McCormick, whose 10 saves were backed up when RFA went back inf ront late and stayed there, having seen goals from Mikayla McPheron and Brynn Furbeck.
Four more games follow this week, B’ville hosting Rochester Mercy before back-to-back clashes with rival Liverpool on Tuesday and Thursday and a Saturday trip to Christian Brothers Academy.
