Nearly 10 months had passed since the Baldwinsville boys lacrosse team was on the field at Hofstra University on Long Island celebrating its first-ever state championship.
When those same Bees left the field at Union College on April 1 at the start of a new season, it was in a far less joyous mood.
Niskayuna, hailing from the Section II ranks, put together a superb all-around performance and defeated B’ville 14-9, providing quite a jolt for a Bees side which had several top players depart from its memorable 2022 run.
What the Silver Warriors showed was that B’ville has a lot of work to do on the defensive side. Niskayuna broke out of a 3-3 tie by outscoring the Bees 5-2 in both the second and third quarters.
Unable to make up that ground, the Bees got three goals and one assist from Keegan Lynch as Garrett Sutton and Anthony Menickelli each scored twice. Carson Dyl and Dylan Wertheim each had one goal and one assist. In goal, Nick Cary recorded 11 saves.
B’ville returned to Central New York and, after some early-week practices, returned to action Thursday afternoon for its home opener against East Syracuse Minoa.
It proved a strong all-around performance for the Bees, who blanked the Spartans on the way to a 4-0 first-quarter advantage and then matched ESM the rest of the half.
A strong attack in the game’s closing stages resulted in B’ville pulling further away to win 16-5, with Lynch the focal point of the attack thanks to his three goals and four assists.
Dyl scored four times, with Sutton adding three goals. Brady Garcia tacked on three assists and Iggy LoMedico tacked on a pair of goals as, aside from his strong defense, Brayden Penafeather-Stevenson also had a goal.
the prelude to a big week of home games where, in a five-day span, Fayetteville-Manlius, Liverpool and Jamesville-DeWitt all make their way to Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium.
