ONONDAGA COUNTY – While fall weekends often means the focus is on football, at Baldwinsville it meant playing twice in field hockey in a span of less than 24 hours against two main Class A rivals and emerging from them with a hard-earned split.
The Bees went to Bragman Stadium to face Cicero-North Syracuse last Friday night, and though it got on the board, it could not quite keep up with the Northstars in a 3-1 defeat.
Ever since dropping last year’s Section III Class A final to Rome Free Academy, the Northstars have honed in on the 2024 season and got off to a solid start Sept. 5 blanking defending Class C champion Clinton 2-0.
Both teams were well-rested, having not played in more than a week, but the Bees’ 10-day break since falling to RFA 3-0 on Sept. 3 may have proven difficult to overcome.
For much of the night, B’ville found itself in a defensive mode, constantly turning back C-NS opportunities as goalies Chloe Butler and Abrielle Zeman combined to make 16 saves.
By contrast, the Bees had just three shots, one of them going in on Leah Kalil’s goal, but the Northstars moved in front thanks to two goals from Nicole Conklin and a goal from Addie Esce as Paige Pangaro picked up a pair of assists.
B’ville would turn this around Saturday morning against Fayetteville-Manlius, but it would require four quarters of regulation and a couple of overtime periods before it could fight past the Hornets 2-1.
Kate Rinn’s second-quarter goal had pushed B’ville in front, and it stayed that way until the final period, when F-M pushed and Isa Crain netted the tying goal.
So it went 1-1 to a seven-on-seven OT. Despite the short space between games and the warm temperatures, the Bees had enough energy to put together just the break it needed in the second extra period.
Rinn was in the middle of it, too, taking a pass from Isabel Seabest, who had cleared it out of her end, and moving the ball until finding Abigail Mantione in stride as Mantione, in one motion, flicked the game-winner past Emma Dobrevich.
Prior to this, Dobrovech had managed 20 saves, and Butler, playing the entire game, was superb, too, ultimately turning back 14 of F-M’s 15 shots.
Another big rivalry game against an undefeated opponent looms Monday when B’ville takes on Liverpool, two days before going to East Syracuse Minoa to end a stretch of four games in six days overall.
