Baldwin seeks playoff return

Baldwin will try to carry its momentum from an impressive showing in the Town of Hempstead boys’ soccer summer league and return to the Nassau Class AA playoffs after a combination of inexperience and injuries kept it from reaching last year’s postseason tournament.

“Not making the playoffs was a disappointment because it’s something we always aim for, but we knew we were young,” Bruins coach Mike Palumbo said. “We have a lot of seniors this year, and that makes a big difference.”

Palumbo said he’s been encouraged by the team’s strong performance throughout the offseason, which included workouts at the school and the summer league that saw it win five of six games. “It’s a great league with well over 30 teams,” he said. “We did a lot better than last year. Whenever we’ve had a good summer league, we’ve followed with a good season.”

Baldwin went 4-6-4 in Conference II-AA, which remained largely intact with Plainview-JFK, Calhoun, East Meadow, Port Washington, Valley Stream Central and MacArthur back in the fold. However, defending state champion Hicksville, which suffered its only loss in 2011 to the Bruins, has been replaced by Mepham after moving up to I-AA. “No excuses if we’re not one of the top four [to make playoffs],” Palumbo said

Defensively, Baldwin could be tough to crack. It features a three-year starter at goalkeeper, senior Danny Capone, an All-Conference selection who’s also one of the school’s top baseball players. “Danny’s a tremendous athlete with quick reaction time,” Palumbo said. “As much as we struggled last year, he had five shutouts. He’s physical, aggressive and very vocal.”

The back row has some quality parts, Palumbo said, starting with junior Peter Rafferty at sweeper. Rafferty, an All-Conference performer despite missing a chunk of games with a calf injury, not only cleans up the defensive end of the field but gets involved in offensive sets. Senior Jonathan Francis, slowed by a back injury last year, gets the nod at stopper and is skillful with the ball and tough to beat in the air. At fullback, junior speedster Malik White returns on the left side and serves as the unit’s top marker. Junior Josh Marin, who has the field vision and skills to give Rafferty a breather at sweeper, and senior Andy Baez will work at right fullback.

Getting the ball to playmaking center-midfielder Greg Abrahams will be a key, Palumbo said. Abrahams, a senior workhorse, is being counted on to frequent the scoring column. Senior Juan Gordillo and freshman Alessandro Garcia will also see time in the center, and juniors Pascal Bastien and Jeff Espinosa, and freshman Isaiah Welsh lead the group of outside middies.

Up front, Palumbo expects big things from seniors Kyle Lindau and D.J. Hunter. Lindau, an All-Conference choice last fall, led the Bruins with nine goals, and Hunter notched three goals and an assist in four games at forward after a switch from midfield. Senior Oscar Ventura can be dangerous off the bench.