Baldwin barely misses playoffs

Some unfortunate luck cost the Baldwin boys’ lacrosse team a fourth straight playoff berth, but the senior-laden team managed to end the season on a winning note.

Baldwin entered the home stretch of the season poised to claim the final playoff spot in Class A before Hicksville pulled off a surprise upset against Oceanside to narrowly edge out the Bruins earn the eight seed by one game over the Bruins. The ninth place finish in the 14-team Conference A was also made unlucky by the arrival this season of Herricks due to higher enrollment, which took up another of the few available playoff spots 

While Baldwin entered its regular season finale against Hemptead on May 7 knowing the playoffs were likely out of reach, the Bruins used the game as a way to celebrate the program's 13 seniors who had helped restore a winning foundation, Baldwin rolled to a 15-3 win to finish 7-6 in league play and then honored the seniors in a postgame ceremony.

“It was a nice way to allow the seniors to go off into the sunset,” said sixth-year Baldwin coach Tim Clancy. “By the fourth quarter we had all our subs in and they were cheering everybody from the sideline and just trying to have some fun with it.”

The Hempstead win to close the season featured five goals from senior attackman Brady Mahler in his final game as Bruin. Mahler, who will be attending Villanova on an academic scholarship, finished his senior campaign with 58 goals and 17 assists after earning All-County honors last year.

Senior midfielder Logan Kirchner also finished his career on a bright note with 39 goals and 22 assists making a huge bump in points from his junior season. His younger brother, junior Preston Kirschner, finished third on the team with 31 points followed by Jake Davidson with 24.

Junior Edwin Lopez Cerritos helped Baldwin obtain key possessions throughout the season as faceoff specialist. Logan Kirschner also took a number of faceoffs as well as part of his versatile role on the team rotating between midfield and attack. 

The defense was led by senior goalie Othello Cook, who saved 51 percent of the shots he faced in just his third season playing lacrosse. The close defense in front of Cook was anchored by sophomore Elijah Iles along with  RJ Espert, Chris Jimenez and Borago Arlin.

Clancy, who went 2-12 in his first season as coach in 2019, said he is proud of how his large senior class paved the way for success with three consecutive playoff berths between 2021 and 2023 and nearly a fourth straight postseason appearance this spring. The class of 2024 began their high school lacrosse careers playing an abridged 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and overcame adversity to leave a winning mark on Baldwin boys lacrosse. 

“We beat Hicksville this year, we beat Plainview last year, we’ve beat East Meadow the last couple years and have had some nice non-conference wins,” Clancy said. “They put us back on the map.”