Baldwin boots Kennedy from playoffs
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Baldwin's Gaeten St. Hillien, left, controls the ball with Kennedy's Andrew Kruter in pursuit during last Friday's Class AA first-round playoff game.
Jeff Wilson/Herald
Baldwin junior Tana Weekes dazzled the crowd with his one-on-one ball skills for much of last Friday’s Nassau Class AA first-round boys’ soccer matchup with Kennedy. But it was one of Weekes’ quickest and simplest passes that sparked the No. 8 Bruins (13-0-2 overall) to a 2-0 victory. While Weekes’ one-timer through traffic to junior forward John Popovic didn’t evoke the oohs and ahhs from spectators the way several of his set ups did, it was easily his most effective footwork of the game.
Coming back to a ball that had been cleared by senior defenseman Steven Greene, Weekes called off a teammate then threaded a pass between a pair of Cougars defensemen and squarely onto the foot of Baldwin’s top goal scorer, Popovic. His 14th goal of the year, with less than nine minutes to play, was the biggest for the team this season.
“That was a phenomenal ball,” Kennedy coach Jason Elias said. “We got beat on a great ball.”
Senior Gaeten St. Hillien’s header off a throw-in by junior Steven Tang less than two minutes later gave Baldwin, the Conference AA-II champions, an insurmountable two-goal lead. The defense and junior goalkeeper Vincent Pellegrino took care of the rest, racking up the team’s fourth consecutive shutout and 11th in 15 games and leading it into the second round against top-seeded Hicksville. “We had a lot of composure from the whole team,” Bruins coach Mike Palumbo said. “The seniors were playing like seniors and we played good strong, smart soccer.”
Kennedy, which dropped a 3-0 decision to Baldwin just 10 days earlier, put a scare into the Bruins early in the first half, but Greene and senior Billy Deignan each managed to clear out balls that were past Pellegrino and looked to be on their way into the net. “From my angle I thought both were going in,” Palumbo said.
Failing to convert even one of the two scoring chances, ultimately cost Kennedy.
“When you miss opportunities in the first 15 minutes of a soccer game they come back to haunt you,” Elias said.
“When you miss opportunities in the first 15 minutes of a soccer game they come back to haunt you,” Elias said.
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