By TONY BELLISSIMO
Though the Bruins allowed the tying goal with 10 minutes left, they earned a point that could prove crucial down the road.
"Oceanside has a lot of skill and has led the conference since the first game, so I'm happy we went toe to toe and came away with a point," Palumbo said. "The conference is shaping up exactly like last year. We can't worry about what everyone else is doing. We have to take care of our own business if we want to make the playoffs."
The first-place Sailors got the equalizer off the foot of Bobby Cassidy, who is among the county leaders in goals with 13. Junior Sean Vigilante scored a pair of second-half goals for the Bruins, who stand at 4-4-2 with four games remaining. They sit in fourth place, trailing Herricks by one point and leading both Carey and Calhoun by one point in the standings. The top four teams qualify for the playoffs.
"The way it looks to me, we need to win three of the last four to secure a spot in the playoffs," Palumbo said. "We haven't played well in the first half all season, and we can't afford to keep coming out flat. It seems like we have to give up a goal before we wake up."
The first-half woes continued against Oceanside when Mathias Coni beat Baldwin senior goalkeeper Jared El Gayeh (14 saves) with a blistering shot to make it 1-0. However, the Bruins controlled much of the tempo in the second half and Vigilante cashed in the first two goals of his varsity career. "We've been pushing the outside midfielders to become involved in the offense and Sean and Nick [Capone] are getting more scoring opportunities as a result of their aggressiveness," Palumbo said.
Baldwin, which suffered through a scoring drought earlier in the season and was blanked in three straight games, has eight goals in its last five (2-1-2). "We were in danger of going in the wrong direction," Palumbo said. "We lost 7-0 to Calhoun on a Saturday and our practice the following Monday wasn't fun. We came out Tuesday and beat Kennedy to get back on track."
Four sophomores have made quite an impact offensively. Forward Gaetan St. Hillian and midfielder C.J. Doherty have three goals apiece, midfielder Billy Deignan has scored twice and forward John Popovic has a goal and three assists. On defense, Baldwin continues to be led by seniors Chris Goberdhan, Nick Guscott and Dan Siegelman, and sophomore Steven Greene.
Three of the Bruins' last four games are on the road, including this Thursday's meeting with Kennedy at 4:30 p.m.
Comments about this story? tbellissimo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 204.
