Through two days, two venues, two overtimes and three weather delays – and against one determined opponent – the Baldwinsville girls lacrosse team somehow found their way to the Section III Class A championship game. The no. 2 seed Bees outlasted no. 3 seed Liverpool, 12-10, in a Class A semifinal that started Thursday night at Solvay’s Earl Hadley Stadium, but didn’t end until Friday on the Warriors’ home turf, the same place to which B’ville will return to face four-time defending champion West Genesee in Tuesday night’s championship game. All of it began Thursday at Solvay with the Bees raring to return to action a full week after the regular season ended. And it took just 31 seconds for Katie Sullivan to put her team in front, and barely a minute more for Meghan Cuddy to convert and make it 2-0. Then, just 2:42 into the game, the teams were sent off the field due to lightning in the vicinity, but the threatening weather stayed away and, 30 minutes later, the game resumed. But B’ville had lost its early momentum, something that, said head coach Doug Rowe, would start a pattern. “Every time we had a delay, the team that was behind rallied,” he said.
In the first of those post-delay comebacks, Liverpool caught up at 2-2 and traded goals before Nina Tassone, who already had three assists, converted a goal of her own to put her team up 5-4. That was the last goal of the half, as the Warriors were content to slow down the tempo and prevent B’ville from using its superior depth to full advantage. This frustrated the Bees, and Liverpool took full advantage early in the second half as it used three straight goals to build an 8-4 margin. Just at that point, though, assistant coach Lionel Brown adjusted the defense, putting Jessica Roberts on Tassone. It worked, as Tassone would not be a factor the rest of the way. What’s more, it gave B’ville a chance to regroup as, knowing that the Warriors were concentrating its defense on Claire and Maggie Monnat, others had to step up. That included Cuddy, whose goal with 16:19 left in regulation began the Bees’ comeback. Less than five minutes later, it was 8-7, thanks to goals from Cuddy and Erin Ward, and another exchange left B’ville still trailing by one, 9-8, as the clock ticked down late in regulation. Now the weather returned as, with 4:18 to play, lightning sent the teams off the field again. Now it was the Warriors hurt by the delay, for when the game resumed B’ville went all-out for the tie, and got it when Ashley Gentile beat Tess Tracy (who had 15 saves) for the tying goal with 1:29 left. When neither team could break the 9-9 deadlock, they went to overtime, a pair of mandatory three-minute periods. Fired up by its comeback, B’ville attacked hard and saw Claire Monnat score on a free position and Cuddy hit on her fourth goal with 44 seconds left in the first extra period. Not only were the Bees two goals in front, but three yellow cards left Liverpool one player down the rest of the way. Just after Cuddy’s goal, more lightning was seen, and for the third time Thursday night the game was stopped. It was decided that the small remainder of the contest would get settled Friday, at noon – at Liverpool. So now the Bees, despite its higher seed, two-goal lead and one-player advantage, were now playing a road game. And it got more tense after Liverpool, when the game resumed, won the draw and had Mallorie O’Brien score 1.4 seconds before the first OT period ended, making it 11-10. Again, B’ville’s defense would provide a lifeline as Amanda Ingersoll forced a turnover early in the second OT. The Bees attacked and forced a free-position shot that Sullivan converted with 2:16 left. Try as it could, Liverpool could not answer and, a mere 10 minutes after the game resumed, it was, finally, over. Cuddy, with four goals, and Sullivan, with three goals, led the way as Claire Monnat had a goal and three assists. Gentile, Ward and Alexis Czyz had the other goals. As relieved as they were happy, B’ville now had a few days to get ready for its shot at dethroning West Genesee, whom it lost to twice in the regular season by margins of 17-11 on April 5 and 12-8 a month later. “We’ve got nothing to lose,” said Rowe. “If we play our game and make the stops, we can play with them.”