CENTRAL NEW YORK – About the only thing that can top the historic double pulled off by Baldwinsville’s lacrosse teams last June is doing it all again.
That’s what both sets of Bees have in mind as the Section III playoffs get underway, defending both these titles and the state championships they went on to claim in 2022.
They both do so as top seeds with byes straight into semifinals late this week. B’ville’s girls play Thursday at Central Square while the boys Bees go to Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadiumm Friday night for its semifinal match.
The B’ville boys go into the post-season at 14-2, having finished its regular season with another representative effort last Tuesday at Fayetteville-Manlius as it pushed past the Hornets by a score of 12-7.
Having won 14-4 back on April 11 in a game at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium where senior T.J. Conley was injured, B’ville did a large share of its damage in the rematch in the first half, steadily building an 8-3 advantage.
Fighting back late, the Hornets made up some ground, yet not enough as the Bees got three goals from Brady Garcia and two-goal outings from Keegan Lynch, Carson Dyl and Ryan Quinn.
Another big highlight came when goalie Nick Cary, who finished with 10 saves, drifted out of his net, then went in a full sprint past all of the F-M defenders and fired it into the net. Dylan Wirtheim and Garrett Sutton also had goals, Brayden Penafeather-Stevenson contribuing an assist.
As this went on, B’ville’s girls lacrosse team was at Liverpool, methodically taking apart its neighbors and rivals while rolling to a 16-5 victory.
Again, the Bees’ top attackers produced well, Mia Pozzi and Brianna Peters each scoring four times and Carlie Desimone and Sophia Muscolino getting three goals apiece. Peyton Dyl also found the net, with Jaya Madigan earning two assists and Lea Otts one assist.
Going to South Jefferson two nights later in its regular-season finale, B’ville looked for some more confidence – but instead, took yet another close defeat as it fell to the Spartans 9-8 in overtime.
A rough first half saw the Bees nearly shut out, but it rallied from a 4-1 deficit to pull even, only to see South Jefferson get the possession in OT and win it as Savannah Hodges led the Spartans, scoring four times, with Madelyn Barney adding two goals and two assists.
Pozzi finished with two goals and four assists as Otts scored three times. Jaya Madigan stepped up for a pair of goals as Peters had one goal and one assist.
