Another playoff year for Baldwin

After back-to-back trips to the Nassau County Class A girls’ semifinals, Baldwin had an up-and-down season on the lacrosse field in 2012. 

The Lady Bruins earned a playoff berth and put forth a terrific effort in their quarterfinal game with No. 3 Port Washington, but fell to the Lady Vikings 14-10. Emily Rosenthal and Danielle Rosmarin each scored three goals, and Rosenthal added three helpers for Port Washington. Baldwin got four goals from freshman Kelsey Cohen and three from sophomore Jessica Markowitz.

Nicole Lein, in her third year as coach at Baldwin, was hoping for better results, but was nonetheless pleased with the effort she received from her team. “To be honest, I thought we’d do a little bit better; it was sort of a bumpy road,” Lein said. “After two straight years of going to the county semifinals, we were hoping for a little more this year. We just had a hard time scoring, and we never really connected they way I thought we would. But, we made the playoffs, and overall I was happy with the team’s performance.”

Five seniors played their last game at Baldwin, which finished 8-8 overall, 4-5 in conference play, including Allie Rodgers. The five-year starter and three-year captain found the back of the net 66 times as a senior, including a pair of seven-goal efforts in wins over Holy Trinity and Seaford. She will play at Binghamton University next season.

“I was very fortunate to step into this program and coach a girl like Allie,” Lein said. “She’s one of those players who sees the field incredibly well and completely understands the game. She led the team in goals for three years, but she’s far more than a scorer. She’s like having another coach on the field. We’re going to miss her a lot.”

The Lady Bruins will need to replace goalie Caroline Winters, a four-year starter in net. Winters, who signed to play at Molloy College, averaged 12 saves per game. She was terrific in stopping 13 shots in the regular season finale, a 12-6 win over Hicksville. Both Winters and Rodgers earned All-County honors. 

Three-year captain Nicole Markowitz emerged as one of the top defenders in the state. Markowitz, who earned All-Conference honors, will play for Monmouth University of the Northeast Conference. Nicole Gardianos scored 32 goals including a season-high six in a non-league win over Our Lady of Mercy. The senior midfielder will attend Coastal Carolina.

Markowitz, Rodgers, and Gardianos all played five seasons for the Baldwin varsity. Gardianos and Cohen, a player with a style that Lein believes compares to Rodgers, were named All-Conference recipients. Cohen had 30 goals for the season.

Lein wishes the seniors well, and looks ahead to the future of lacrosse at Baldwin. “I can’t say enough about these girls,” Lein said. “They worked very hard and left some big shoes to fill. We have some young players who are going to have to step into new roles next season.”