Baldwin holds off Oceanside

After holding down the conference top spot for much of the regular season, fourth-seeded Baldwin limped into the Nassau Class AAA boys’ soccer playoffs without a goal in more than eight halves but took the field Wednesday night against No. 5 Oceanside as healthy as its been in weeks.

One of three recently injured Bruins starters to return to action for the quarterfinal matchup at Cold Spring Harbor, senior William Zalaya, ended their scoreless drought two minutes into the postseason and Baldwin held off a relentless late flurry by the Sailors for a 2-1 victory.

“We were locked in until the last moment,” said Baldwin senior goalkeeper Josue Ascencio, who with 90 seconds remaining leaped to deflect a blast off the foot of Oceanside’s Derek Gromling over the crossbar to avoid overtime. “We’ve been knocked out in the quarterfinals three years in a row and didn’t want that to happen again,” he added.

The Bruins, who began 2023 on a 10-game unbeaten streak (8-0-2) but suffered four straight shutout losses to close the regular season, advanced to face No. 8 East Meadow in the semifinals Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at Farmingdale State College. Oceanside, which played in last year’s Class AA championship game, finished 8-5-1.

“That save Josue made at the end, just wow,” Baldwin coach Chris Soupios said. “When you have a kid like that in the back that keeps you in every game, there’s a lot you can accomplish. Getting that early goal when we hadn’t scored in four games was nice for our confidence. It was nice to give Josue a lead.”

Senior Stefan Lyons scored what proved to be the winning goal with 28:43 remaining when he banged home a rebound after Oceanside senior keeper Joe Zweben made a terrific diving save to deny Zalaya.  

“Everyone doubted we could advance to the next round based on the way we finished the regular season,” Zalaya said. “But when we have everyone back on the field, we’re a completely different team.”  

Gromling, a junior, cut the deficit in half with 15:42 left and the Sailors were knocking hard on the door to tie until the final horn. Seniors Brady Mahler, Justin Williams, Darius Ikechewku and sophomore Joshua Cantre were the defensive workhorses for Baldwin.

“Our three seniors were all monsters back there and Joshua played the best game of his career,” Soupios said.

Oceanside lost 1-0 to Baldwin in the season opener but unlike the Bruins entered the playoffs on a high, winning four of its last five with senior Giacomo Vacchio (7 goals) and junior defender Dylan Wassenbergh leading the charge.

“We had a great second half tonight and just ran out of time,” Sailors coach Patrick Turk said. “Hats off to Baldwin. They started quick and then went up 2-0. However, we brought the fight back to them and didn’t give up. They were able to cash in one more opportunity than we did.”