Baldwin pushing fast pace

Baldwin blasted its way out of the gates in Nassau County’s Conference AA-III girls’ soccer and with good reason. The only way for the Lady Bruins to qualify for the postseason is to win at minimum nine of their 10 conference games based on how the current configuration is set up.

Victories over Elmont (5-0 on Sept. 19), Hempstead (5-0) and Freeport (2-0) have kept Baldwin (3-2 overall, 3-0 in conference AA-III) on the pace it needs. “Our goal is to win the conference and make sure we don’t have more than one loss,” coach Darius Burton said. “We’ve always been the hunter but now we’re the hunted, and we can’t afford to slip up.”

A rash of injuries last season led Baldwin to a sixth-place finish among the seven teams in Conference AA-II and consequently, a drop to AA-III based on how the campaign played out, regardless of why the team struggled. The Lady Bruins were bumped down to a conference where only one playoff berth is awarded, and that is based only on raw numbers — wins in 90 percent of its conference games.

In the win over Elmont, four different players accounted for the five goals led by junior Kelsey Cohen’s two. After starting the season as a midfielder, Cohen has been bumped up to forward where her speed and athleticism have caused trouble for opposing defenses. Through five games, Cohen has a team-high five tallies, while her linemate, sophomore Nicole Sheintul has also netted a pair of goals. Sophomore Chrissy Noonan is also in the mix at forward.

Much of the offense is generated from a potentially deep midfield that has already seen senior co-captain Alyssa Gangi miss time because of injury. Though the depth is being tested, the unit is still performing well and a pair of eighth-graders has already had a major early impact. Maggie Thibault and Jenna Annecchiarico are both aggressive with well-rounded skills and have stepped right into key roles at midfield. Thibault has already scored a goal and posted an assist, and Annecchiarico ‘s proven to be a strong one-on-one player. Junior Julia Alt has also jumped into the mix at midfield and played consistently.

Sophomore Bridget Jules has filled in for Gangi at one of the outside midfield slots and scored in the win over Elmont along with junior Jade Aponte, who lines up across the field and has already picked up two goals and three assists.

The veterans on the team can be found mostly on the back line, where senior Tyra Harrison and junior Marissa Rhoden are performing well at outside back, senior sweeper Caitlin Airey, a co-captain, lines up at sweeper and freshman Julie Annecchiarico handles stopper. Even with junior Morgan Rachlin missing time, the defense has piled up the zeros. Riding a wave of three straight Conference AA-III shutouts, the backline has done well in limiting the shots on keepers Deanna Noonan and Priyanka Bisht. 

“We have a great group and they’re really working hard,” Burton said. “They’ve been fun to coach but we have to take it one game at a time because we don’t have room for error.”