ONONDAGA COUNTY – With its mid-season slump quickly tucked away, the Baldwinsville girls soccer team began October with a satisfying victory over one of its biggest recent nemeses.
Rarely able to keep up with Fayetteville-Manlius before Wednesday night’s game, the Bees leaned on the duo of Audra Salvagni and Nadia Guzman to deliver a quick start which led to a 3-2 win over the Hornets.
Over the course of the first half Salvagni and Guzman put in a trio of goals between them, all of which helped establish for B’ville a 3-1 advantage.
F-M’s defense tightened in the second half, but despite goals by Lacie Teaken and Macie Davey it could not quite catch up, thwarted by a Bees defense where Abby DeSimone turned away 10 of the Hornets’ 12 shots.
Through 10 games, just one side – Baldwinsville – had got the best of F-M in boys soccer, even more remarkable given how both sides had fared otherwise.
That 3-2 win back in September was still the only one on the Bees’ ledger when it hosted a rematch with the Hornets last Tuesday at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, and despite where the teams stood it would end in a 0-0 draw.
F-M found that its 8-1-1 record and state Class AAA no. 6 ranking meant little against a B’ville defense roaring into top form and stifling the Hornets through 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime.
Much of the game was spent in B’ville’s end, but the defense it played atoned for a quiet attack that only got three direct shots on Hornets goalie Jeremy Albert.
Then B’ville got some payback on Thursday night, defeating West Genesee 3-2 barely two weeks after losing 2-1 in overtime to those same Wildcats in Camillus.
Going for a rare season sweep of the Bees WG did score in each half, but B’ville still broke out of a 1-1 halftime tie. Owen Daly, Will Stevens and Jack Dutter had one goal apiece, with Aidan Holcomb earning an assist, overcoming Wildcat goalie Boston Crandall’s seven saves.
Now with a lot of confidence, B’ville went to Marcellus Saturday and tore up the Mustangs 8-0 with four goals in each half and, remarkably, eight different goal-scorers.
Aidan Holcomb led with a goal and two assists. Lucas Corbett and Dylan Blaisdell both had one goal and one assist, while Stevens, Daly, Derek Barr and Jon Blojevski also converted and Dutter got a pair of assists. Brayden Schrader added an assist.
A big stretch for the B’ville girls would feature trips to the only two teams which have beaten them this season, West Genesee and Cicero-North Syracuse, while the boys Bees host C-NS Saturday after meeting Utica Proctor earlier in the week.
