BALDWINSVILLE – By the time the final whistle blew in Thursday night’s girls soccer game at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium against Cicero-North Syracuse, Baldwinsville had earned the right to some rest.
The Bees had played seven games over a span of 17 days, winning the first five of them before running into back-to-back tests against two reigning Section III champions and dropping both of them – 2-0 to West Genesee, 3-2 to C-NS.
West Genesee, the Class AA sectional champions of 2023, came first last Tuesday night and mostly kept B’ville in a defensive mode most of the night.
It helped the Wildcats that the Bees had played a tough game two days earlier beating Broadalbin-Perth 2-1 thanks to goals by Natalie Hollingshead and Reese Fulkerson, with Audra Salvagni getting an assist and Abby DeSimone earning six saves.
With far more rest (it had not played in five days), WG pushed its tempo from the opening kickoff, leading to a string of scoring opportunities and set pieces which culminated 10:15 into the game when Chelsea Donaldson found Maria Snyder in stride and Snyder fit a low shot inside the left post.
That it wasn’t more than 1-0 at halftime was partially due to the Bees hanging on defensively and partially due to bad luck as a potential second goal was waved off due to offsides.
Still, the Wildcats did not sit back in the second half, even after Julia Poissant stopped Nadia Guzman point-blank from a possible tying goal in the 51st minute, by far the Bees’ best chance to get on the board.
WG continued to make strong attacks and then, just past the midway point, notching the insurance goal with another shot inside the left post, this time from Bridget Petrus as Anna Nelson got the assist.
After another quick turnaround, it was C-NS’s turn. The Northstars had to replace several key players from last year’s sectional Class AAA champions and started several freshmen, but had just routed Liverpool 5-1 earlier in the week.
Here, B’ville found some success against the young C-NS back line, with Guzman and Natalie Hollingshead each producing goals, yet it still could not keep up with the quick and opportunistic Northstars attack.
Goals by Emery Kozdemba (a sophomore), Addie Mackey and Evelyn Magente (both freshmen) pushed C-NS in front, this despite DeSimone recording eight saves.
The rest should refresh B’ville before it plays Liverpool next Wednesday night before returning home Sept. 28 for a noon kickoff against Watertown.
