By TONY BELLISSIMO
The Lady Bruins were back on their heels all night, yet despite allowing 19 shots they came away with a point in a scoreless tie.
Vega faced the onslaught in the fog, no less, and earned praise from Baldwin coach Darius Burton. "It was definitely her best game of the year," he said. "That's the way I expect her to play all the time. She made at least five point-blank saves.
"I try to take a positive from every game, and Stephanie was the biggest positive in this one. Hopefully we can build off it."
The Lady Bruins (1-5-1 in Conference I) have struggled to put the ball in the net, scoring just once in their last four games. That tally came off the left foot of junior midfielder Katelynn Carrino in a 2-1 defeat to Calhoun on Sept. 28. "The girls work hard all the time in practice and games, so we're not getting outworked," Burton said. "We're facing highly skilled teams, and we've been competitive. In a nutshell, the difference is opponents have put away their scoring chances and we haven't. We hope to click down the stretch and gain confidence heading into the playoffs."
Burton contemplated changes and still may tweak the midfield, but he'll roll out the same starting defense (senior Kerrie Ann Deignan at sweeper, junior Lindsay Collica at stopper, and juniors Amanda Rittmeier and Jamie Edelson at fullback) and forward tandem (sophomore Olivia Antonopoulos and freshman N'Dea Johnson) as usual.
Antonopoulos, who scored nine goals in 2006, has three so far while drawing constant double coverage. One of her goals sent the Sept. 19 game against East Meadow into overtime before the Lady Jets prevailed, 2-1. "Olivia's all over the place," Burton said. "She's got so much energy it's unbelievable. Teams are putting their best defender on her, and she's also doubled a lot. It doesn't take long for them to figure out she's our biggest threat."
Johnson, who missed the Oceanside game with an injury but is expected to play Thursday at East Meadow at 4:30 p.m., could prove a key the rest of the way as Baldwin seeks to turn its offense up a notch.
"It would be nice if we can break out offensively and take some pressure off Stephanie [Vega] and the defense," Burton explained.
The good news is the Lady Bruins are guaranteed a spot in the Class AA playoffs because they compete in the top conference.
Comments about this story? tbellissimo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 204.
