Thursday, October 1, 2026
After losing nine seniors, including its superstar goalkeeper, Baldwin girls soccer is amidst a massive rebuilding phase.
With just one senior and a dearth of goal scorers, coach Lee Rogers is all about patience. The Bruins have lost their first three games to East Meadow, Herricks and Roslyn by a combined score of 15-1.
"It's a young team,'' Rogers said. "Without a doubt, it's going to be a learning season, very developmental season. Ideally, at some point during the season, hopefully we find someone who is a goal scorer. We have a problem with someone who can put the ball in the back of the net.''
The season's lone goal has been scored by an eighth-grader, Sarielle Laibhen, who is playing defense but can play all the positions, including goalie. Another starter playing midfield and forward is eighth-grader Isabella Yotagri.
So there is hope with all these youngsters. Rogers feels sophomore Olivia Lazo is a potential sniper but she's playing defensive midfield for now, holding the defense together.
"I'd love for (Olivia) to play forward but unfortunately the way the team chemistry is, we need her to play defense to stop the bleeding,'' said Rogers, whose team has given up 6 goals, 5 goals and 4 goals apiece in the three blowouts.
The new goalie is junior Nyla Narcisse, who has large spikes to fill. The departed netminder, Dee Ikechukwu, won the conference's "Goalie of the Year'' honors three straight times and is now playing at Delaware State.
The lone senior is dependable midfielder Amenna Joseph but the vocal leader is just a sophomore, midfielder Kristen Hester. This bodes well for Baldwin's future.
"She's a good, hardworking midfielder with a nice first touch and ability to read the game,'' Rogers said of Hester. "She constantly demonstrates team spirit, has a lot of determination and respect for her teammates.''
Hester enjoys her role. "I get my leadership from my parents,'' Hester said. "They pushed that on me to be a vocal player since I started playing at age 5. I feel like I know what I'm doing out there to lead my team.''
This is Rogers' seventh season and maybe the British coach's biggest challenge.
"I'm really focusing on getting that good first touch and keeping possession," Rogers said. "We're trying to work a lot more on possession of the ball and not giving it up. You can tell by the scores we had trouble preventing other teams from putting the ball in the back of the net. As the season goes on, without a doubt, we're going to improve.''
Hester is one of only six girls who play year-round club soccer, meaning most only kick the ball two months a year.
"As a very young team, I think we are growing together with our chemistry,'' Hester said. "We have to continue to put effort out on the field and we'll get better from there.''
There are potential wins on the schedule, Roger predicted. Last season's Bruins posted a 4-7-3 record. As such, in half of last season's games, the Bruins were not on the losing end.
Rogers cites this Saturday versus Jericho, Oct. 7 against New Hyde Park and the season's final two games in late October against Division and Hewlett as potential ties or wins.
