By TONY BELLISSIMO
Kyle Rebman scored three of his six goals in the fourth quarter and Troy Dennis (two goals, two assists) notched the eventual game-winner with 8:20 remaining for the fifth-seeded Bruins, who advanced to meet No. 1 Farmingdale in the semifinals at Hofstra. Sophomore Brandon Noblet paced fourth-seeded East Meadow (10-7) with three goals and junior Tom Rhodes added a goal and an assist.
"I'm super proud of this team," Jets coach Barney Dell'Aquila said. "It's disappointing to lose, but the program has come a long way and the kids deserve all the credit. We were down to 19 kids when I arrived here three years ago."
East Meadow, which enjoyed a breakthrough campaign that included huge regular-season wins over Massapequa and Oceanside, had problems with turnovers and keeping up with Baldwin's transition offense led by Alexander, Dennis and Alonzo Holcombe. "We're a pretty athletic team," said Dell'Aquila, "but they're even more athletic than us.
"They forced us to turn the ball over quite a bit," Dell'Aquila added. "We controlled the ball well and cleared it without any issues when we beat Massapequa and Oceanside, and that's what helped us get to this point."
The Bruins scored late in each of the first two quarters and led 5-3 at halftime. Max Malinowski converted a pass from Dennis with 0.8 seconds left in the opening quarter for a 3-1 advantage, and Dennis picked up a man-down goal with 23 seconds to go in the half. "We established an early lead and each time they got close we willed another goal out of ourselves," Baldwin coach Rich Garguilo said.
It took a while, but the Jets finally shifted momentum on their side after starting the second half with a flurry that brought goals off the sticks of senior Brian Gill (his team-best 37th of the year), Rhodes and sophomore Sean Hinchy and a 6-5 lead. But goals by Malinowski and Rebman regained the lead for Baldwin after three quarters, and Alexander and Rebman took charge in the fourth after Noblet opened the scoring in the final stanza to knot the game at 7.
Working behind a defense led by senior Kevin Hinchy and juniors Stephen Katz and Nick Barclay, East Meadow junior goaltender Max Schefler (16 saves) was outstanding in the cage. Unfortunately for the hosts, Baldwin freshman goalie Brett Dadiego (15 stops) was equally up to the task.
Comments about this story? TBellissimo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 204.
