Baldwin tries to achieve goals

Guaranteed its sixth consecutive berth in the Nassau Class AA girls’ soccer playoffs in as many years under coach Darius Burton, Baldwin will look to continue its recent trend of peaking at the right time and making noise in the postseason.

The Lady Bruins, who last season reached the playoff quarterfinals, brought back half a dozen starters and are 1-2-1 in their first four Conference AA-I games.

“We’re pretty young as far as returning players and we’re also in the top conference,” Burton said. “One positive is we automatically qualify for the playoffs, and once we get there we won’t be intimated. We’ve managed to play our best brand of soccer at the end in recent years.”

Baldwin’s defense and senior goalkeeper Amber Harrison have been outstanding so far, Burton said, and the offense has been creating scoring opportunities but not cashing in with the frequency it takes to be successful in the top conference.

“We’ve had chances, but we can’t seem to score,” Burton said. “We have two goals in four conference games and need to find ways to put the ball in the net.”

In a 2-0 loss at East Meadow on Sept. 21, all five Lady Bruins’ shots were turned aside by Nicole Castro. Harrison made eight saves, but Jenna Borrensen converted a pair of corner kicks from Meghan Cleary to provide the difference.

Two days earlier, Harrison posted her second shutout of 2011 with six saves against Hicksville in a scoreless tie. Baldwin totaled 11 shots on goal but didn’t get any past Raquel Poetzsch.

“It’s a little frustrating,” Burton said. “We had two winnable games and we didn’t get either one. The schedule doesn’t get any easier, but we just have to keep positive and keep working hard like we always do.”