Baldwin looks to bring more offense

Baldwin’s boys’ soccer team’s calling card of late has been its defense and goalkeeping. The Bruins now would like to add some offense to the mix and emerge as a serious county title contender.

Baldwin was 8-4-3 last season, which ended with a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime loss to Port Washington in the Nassau Class AA semifinals despite holding a lead in the final minute of regulation. It marked the third straight year the Bruins lost by a goal in the semis.

The team was successful despite scoring just 27 goals over those 15 games – an average of under two a contest – while yielding just 22. Baldwin lost five seniors to graduation, but three of them accounted for almost half of those tallies, leaving coach Chris Soupios searching for more offensive weapons as the new season begins.

“We’ve got to find a way to score goals,” he said. “I think if those goals really start to come this year, I think we have a strong enough defensive system and an All-County goalie like [Josue Ascencio] where we could really challenge this year.”

Senior William Zelaya is the team’s top returning scorer with three goals and six points in 2022. A captain since his sophomore campaign, Zelaya can be a threat anywhere on the field besides his usual midfielder position and possesses the talent that has already made him a two-time All-County honoree.

“From the moment Will came up to the varsity as a freshman, he’s been the hardest working kid in the program,” Soupios said. “He understands the game, he does a great job with his body position, he can go left, he can go right, he sees the game really well. He’s an all-around player.”

Soupios is also hoping sophomore Devonte Young and juniors Terry Bruno and Nathaniel Hernandez – the younger brother of last year’s leading scorer Benjamin – can contribute up front. Hernandez joined the team during the second half of last year and is an energetic player and strong when it comes to positioning, while Bruno is “surprisingly agile” with his over six-foot frame.

“They’re fighting for that spot up top and it’s really going to come down to who’s producing goals,” Soupios said.

The senior-laden defense was already solid with Stefan Lyons, Christian Smalling, Justin Williams and Brady Mahler manning the back, but the corps will be even stronger this year with the return of outside back Darius Ikechewku from a broken wrist.

“These guys who are outside backs have the ability to come up and create offense for us,” Soupios said.

Ascencio was named the conference’s top goalie the past two seasons despite being bitten by the injury bug while playing for his offseason club team, and Soupios is expecting even bigger things from him if his health does stay intact.

“Josue’s been really unlucky [with] two unfortunate injuries over the past two years,” he said. “I think in some ways that maybe limited that huge jump in growth that he would’ve had. I really feel that there’s a ton of potential still there.”