Back-to-back state championships is a pinnacle few high school sports programs ever reach, and the Baldwinsville boys lacrosse team now occupies that rare altitude.
Getting a three-peat, though, will be even more challenging than the first two.
A host of seniors, including Keegan Lynch, Garrett Sutton, Carson Dyl, Brayden Penfeather-Stevenson, Ryan Quinn, Dylan Wertheim and goalie Nick Cary, have graduated, leaving many new faces in the starting lineup for the Bees.
All of them got a rough introduction in the March 30 season opener at Pleasantville (Section I), shut down for long stretches of a 9-4 defeat to the Panthers.
It took until the second quarter for B’ville to pick up a goal, and even then Pleasantville used a big surge to build a 5-1 halftime advantage.
Only in the fourth quarter did the Bees score more than once, with Judson Ferris and Brady Garcia earning two goals apiece. Alessio McGrane and Zach Bice earned assists, with Trevor Sutton having to make 17 saves to keep things close.
Back home last week, B’ville would deal with the weather and two visiting opponents from Section V, Webster Thomas and Irondequoit, where things improved in a hurry.
Against Webster Thomas, the evolution from the first game to the second was quite visible as the Bees raced out to a 4-1 lead and then put up seven unanswered goals in the second quarter to spread the margin on the Titans to double digits.
B’ville eventually won 16-5, with the Garcia brothers at the forefront. Dylan Garcia scored five times and earned two assists, with Brady Garcia managing three goals to go with his pair of assists.
Tieman Lynch stepped up, scoring twice to equal Ferris and adding an assist, while Matt Niedzialek, Iggy LoMedico, Kaleb Young and Dan Trouesdale also earned goals. Bice got an assist as Josh Armpriester won 11 of the 21 faceoffs he took.
Irondequoit was next, and this proved a whole lot closer – stretching into overtime, in fact, before the Bees, showing early-season poise and confidence, pulled out a 10-9 victory over the Eagles.
All game long, the two sides were in sight of each other, Irondequoit inching in front early and trading goals amid tight defense that left B’ville trailing 5-4 at the break.
A big third quarter, though, gave the Bees an 8-7 advantage – one it could not hold on to late, and to make things far worse, one of the Bees’ senior leaders, defender Greg Marinelli, went out with an injury late in regulation.
Determined to win one for Marinelli, B’ville charged into the OT period and, twice, goalie Trevor Sutton came up with clutch stops to keep the game tied, having stopped 16 of the Eagles’ 25 shots.
And it paid off when LoMedic, weaving through the Irondequoit defense from the left side, [ut home the game-winner, completing a three-goal hat trick as he matched Brady Garcia’s total, though Brady also earned four assists. Ferris netted two goals as Lynch and Dylan Garcia got the other goals.
A marquee game this Thursday night pits B’ville against Jamesville-DeWitt, the reigning sectional Class C champions, before the Bees return home Saturday to face yet another Section V opponent, Canandaigua.
