BALDWINSVILLE – It wasn’t just that Baldwinsville boys lacrosse head coach Matt Wilcox reached 100 career victories. It was the way it happened, and the opponent the Bees defeated, that made it particularly special.
Locked in a tight, physical battle with Fayetteville-Manlius Tuesday night at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, B’ville simply took over in the fourth quarter, pouring in eight unanswered goals on the way to beating the Hornets 14-4.
Wilcox’s tenure has included a trio of Section III titles and, in 2022, the Bees’ first-ever state championship. What B’ville demonstrated at the beginning and end of this game with F-M was that it had the capability to dream big again.
The Hornets arrived at B’ville having started 3-0, but the hosts quickly seized control with goals by Dylan Wirtheim and Ryan Quinn in the first 2 1/2 minutes. Then Brady Garcia and Garrett Sutton added goals to double the margin to 4-0, Sutton converting in the waning seconds of the first quarter.
F-M settled down and, over the course of the next two periods, battled back into the game. Even with T.J. Conley going out with an injury, the Hornets picked up its attack and got two goals from Rob Madden, plus tallies from Michael Hance and John Angelicola.
So the Bees only led 6-4 going to the final quarter, but everything changed when Quinn converted off a turnover 1:09 into the period and the Hornets committed a penalty that gave the Bees a two-minute man-up situation.
Within 75 seconds, Sutton and Anthony Menickelli had netted goals, and Sutton returned to get his fourth goal with 8:56 left, which made it 10-4, but that was just half of it.
Lynch, who finished with five assists, joined Carson Dyl and Jamesen Gipe to net goals in the final minutes, an emphatic B’ville statement at the start of a tough stretch of three home games in five days.
Or at least it seemed tough.
B’ville, against neighbor and rival Liverpool Thursday night, jumped out to a 7-1 advantage through one quarter and pulled further away in the second half to top the Warriors 17-7.
What helped was the scoring balance as Lynch, Sutton, Garcia and Wirtheim each got three-goal hat tricks. Quinn and Dyl both gained one goal and one assist, with Menickelli, Will Weakley and Ignazio LoMedico also earning goals.
Now came Saturday’s game against Jamesville-DeWitt, off to its own 2-0 start after beating West Genesee and East Syracuse Minoa, but just like it had all week, B’ville proved too much for quality opposition.
The 14-4 margin exactly matched what the Bees did against F-M, only here it was the defense stepping up, allowing just one goal in the second half after racing out to a 7-3 advantage.
Dyl (three goals, one assist) and Keegan Lynch (two goals, three assists) led a well-balanced attack where Sutton and Garcia also converted twice. Quinn had a goal and two assists, with Menickelli, Judson Ferris, Brayden Penafeather-Stevenson and Tieman Lynch getting one goal apiece.
It all happened on a day where B’ville boys lacrosse honored its 2023 Hall of Fame class, including Dave Fiorini (Class of 1976), Patrick Donahue (Class of 1983), Mark Houghtaling (Class of 1985), Zack Wallace (Class of 2001) and John Venditti (Class of 2007).
B’ville would carry a four-game win streak into a key game Tuesday against unbeaten Cicero-North Syracuse at Bragman Stadium, the first of five straight road games that includes a Saturday trip to Christian Brothers Academy.
