Only once would the Liverpool and Baldwinsville girls lacrosse teams face each other in the regular season. And when that took place Thursday at Ray Middle School, the state Class A no. 5-ranked Warriors erased an early five-goal deficit and had all sorts of chances, but still left with an 11-10 loss to the no. 10-ranked Bees. Going in, Liverpool was a bit handicapped on the back line as top defender Megan Sardella missed a start due to illness – which may have explained the Warriors’ early struggles to stop anything B’ville tried. Kristina Lombard scored in the game’s opening minute. After that, though, B’ville scored six goals – two each by Claire Monnat and Sam Yaro, one each from Maggie Monnat and Erin Ward – and it was 6-1, and the game wasn’t even six minutes old. After a Liverpool time-out, though, the Warriors started to make stops and launched its own 6-0 run to leap out in front 7-6 fueled by Nina Tassone, who had four assists as the likes of Brianna Mancini, Mary Fadden, and Anna Daucher converted. From there, the two sides traded goals, Daucher briefly putting Liverpool up 8-7 in the final minute before Maggie Monnat answered seconds later, and they went to halftime tied, 8-8. Everything was different in the second half, especially on the defensive side. B’ville’s back line, led forced turnovers and kept Liverpool off the board for more than 20 minutes. The Bees went through its own drought before goals by Ward and Yaro pushed the Bees ahead 10-8. A third yellow card left B’ville a player down (a new rule this year) for the last 4:07 of regulation. Mallorie O’Brien and Tassone scored, but in between Maggie Monnat ripped in what proved to be the game-winner with 2:28 left. After Tassone cut the margin to one with 1:12 to play, Meghan Cuddy won the ensuing draw, and the Bees ran out the clock. Leading up to B’ville, the Warriors were in top form, starting last Monday with a trip to Auburn where, despite the poor conditions, it handled the Maroons 16-6. Rain and mud were in play, but Liverpool deftly handled the muck, bolting out to a 10-1 halftime lead. Wisely, head coach Elizabeth Acee eased up a bit in the second half, using more players than normal to keep anyone from getting hurt. Still, Fadden and Andrea Flood both finished with four goals and one assist. Mancini and Janae Garofalo each scored twice, with Daucher and Lauren each getting one goal and one assist. Tassone, Lombard and O’Brien each had single goals.