Baldwin goes down fighting

Baldwin improved by leaps and bounds since March and entered the Nassau Class A girls’ lacrosse playoffs with four wins in its last five regular-season games including a vital double-overtime victory over Oceanside to clinch a spot in the eight-team postseason tournament.

The Lady Bruins, seeded sixth, played an inspired playoff opener at No. 3 Port Washington on May 15 but didn’t catch many breaks and ultimately ran out of gas in a 12-9 defeat. They got five goals from Kelsey Cohen and a strong performance by freshman Nicole Sheintal (eight saves) in the net, while the Lady Vikings got five goals apiece from Danielle Rosmarin and Natalie Ledwitz.

“I thought both teams played a very good game,” Baldwin coach Nicole Lein said. “I’m not upset. The effort was there and the girls wanted it. I thought we did an amazing job defensively, but they wore us down in the second half.”

Baldwin opened a 3-0 lead just 7:11 into the game, with Cohen sandwiching a pair of goals around one by Sarah Pulis. Sheintal was also sharp early and made a save from close range on Port Washington’s immediate possession after Cohen opened the scoring. “We talked about a fast start,” Lein said. “I thought it was important, since we were on the road against a Conference I team.”

Allison Shamir’s success on draws helped the Lady Vikings win the time-of-possession battle and chip away at the deficit. Ledwitz and Rosmarin scored 57 seconds apart to make it 3-2, but Baldwin netted two of the next three goals with Pulis assisting Bridget Jules and Jessica Markowitz. 

Port Washington responded with three straight goals to lead for the first time, 6-5, with 1:22 left in the half. Rosmarin and Kristin Kujan scored off re-starts to pull the hosts even, and Rosmarin scored the tiebreaking goal in traffic. Jules created a halftime deadlock with a shot that clanged off the post and into the net with 2.5 seconds left in the half.

“Momentum changed a couple of times,” Lein said.

The Lady Vikings had a three-goal spurt to open the second half and led 9-6, but Cohen scored twice in 18 seconds to bring Baldwin within 9-8. She also answered a Ledwitz goal, making it 10-9. “When she comes in hot, she’s excellent,” Lein said of Cohen.

However, the Lady Bruins, who were led defensively by Chelsea Banks, Casey Barberio and Amanda Clemens, were held scoreless over the final 9:46.