Late goals propel Baldwin

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Baldwin’s girls’ lacrosse team has found itself on the wrong side of a lot of closely contested games over the past few weeks. The Lady Bruins have suffered three losses since April 17, all coming by three goals or less.

In last Saturday’s matchup against visiting Clarke, it looked as if Baldwin was heading towards another difficult defeat, as it trailed by a goal with less than three minutes to go. But, the Lady Bruins would not be denied this time, as late goals from junior Bridget Jules and senior Kelsey Cohen helped power them to a thrilling 15-14 victory.

“I was a little nervous, not gonna lie,” Baldwin coach Nicole Lein said. “The games that we have lost, we’ve lost in the last two or three minutes. So there was a feeling of déjà vu, but I’m happy to see that we pulled through.”

The game-winning goal came off the stick of Cohen, who converted a free position shot with just 1:15 remaining in regulation to put her team ahead for good. It was her fourth score of the day.

“I knew I just needed to take my shot,” Cohen said. “I thought to myself, I can’t look at the goalie, I just need to look at all net, and I just put it in.”

Cohen’s goal came after Jules tied the game with 2:52 left to play. Cohen, Jules and midfielder Sarah Pulis combined to score 14 of the Lady Bruins’ 15 goals on the day. Goalie Nicole Sheintul made 10 saves.

“(The three of them) really know how to put the ball in the cage, and really place their shots,” Lein said. “Almost every single shot they took went in today, so that really was big for us.”

The trio’s scoring began early, helping Baldwin take a 10-7 lead into the half. The Lady Bruins would maintain their lead until Jennifer Wahlig tied things up for Clarke with 6:19 to play in the second half. The Lady Rams then went ahead with 4:13 remaining in regulation on a goal from Nicole Russell.

Despite the scary moments late, Lein was able to successfully motivate her team to finish strong and come away with the win.

“When I talked to the girls I said, ‘have confidence in yourselves, and have confidence in your stick skills.’” I said that this is stuff we do every day in practice,” Lein said. “I kept telling the team to push through it, and that whoever comes out on top is gonna prove who wants this game more, and has heart. So really it came down to heart, and who wants it more.”

The win improved Baldwin’s record to 10-3 on the season and 6-3 in Conference III action. The Lady Bruins have won back-to-back one-goal games, having beatn East Meadow 10-9 on April 30, keeping their very competitive coach happy.

“I’m not a big fan of losing,” Lein said. “I’m kind of more of a sore loser than the girls are.”