ONONDAGA COUNTY – A big part of the Baldwinsville boys soccer team’s hopes of regaining its championship glory had nothing to do with what took place on the field.
When the New York State Public High School Athletic Association moved to six classes for some sports in 2023-24, soccer was one of them.
And the Bees were pulled up to Class AAA, still with rivals like Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool, but away from the likes of Fayetteville-Manlius, West Genesee and CBA.
Either way, the Bees are bent this season on showing that it’s better than the 9-6-2 mark it put up a season ago, and it had to feel quite encouraged after an opening stretch that included an impressive 2-0 victory over C-NS last Tuesday night at the Gillette Road complex.
Several key players, including goalie Wyatt Dupell, had graduated from the Northstars side that beat F-M and West Genesee in overtime to claim the sectional title in 2022.
More importantly, though, C-NS continued to struggle on the other end, running into a B’ville defense that only surrendered five shots, all claimed by Nick Hollingshead.
The Bees got the only goal it needed in the first half, but doubled that margin in the latter stages. Michael Sacco and Aiden Baker found the net, with assists going to Ryan Bullis and Andrew Jung.
Back in the Liverpool Tournament on Sept. 1 and 2. B’ville handled Marcellus, a Class B sectional finalist last fall, 3-0 in the opening round, putting up a goal in the first more and adding two more after intermission.
Sacco, Ian Price and Patrick Smith took turns getting goals and assisting on each other’ scoring plays, and while the Mustangs had plenty of its own opportunities, none of its seven shots got past Hollingshead.
A day later, B’ville faced Westhill and took a 1-0 defeat, a game where both defenses were superb, rarely conceding opportunities, but Josh Dabbiero was able to get the Warriors in front, his goal assisted by Max Cowin.
After beating C-NS, the Bees returned to Liverpool, this time to face the Warriors on Saturday afternoon, and could not quite complete the neighborhood sweep, taking a 1-0 defeat to the Warriors.
Neither side could find the net in the first half, but in the second half Liverpool inched out in front with Evan Belfield’s goal and held on, helped by Jacob McQuatters stopping all seven of B’ville’s shots.
So with a 2-2 mark, the Bees would play back-to-back games early this week, hosting PSLA-Fowler and going to West Genesee, before welcoming Fayetteville-Manlius on Thursday night.
