Baldwin tops Clarke on late goal

Though unable to break its frustrating trend of slow starts, Baldwin’s field hockey team finished strong against Clarke last Friday afternoon to win its fourth home game in five tries. 

Senior Nadia Elcock scored off an assist from senior Rachel Hayes with 6:17 remaining to give the Lady Bruins a 2-1 victory. Elcock also scored late in the first half to pull the hosts even after Clarke senior standout Bailey McNamara opened the scoring at the 18:59 mark.

“I thought it was going to be a one-goal game,” Baldwin coach Mike Hoover said. “It’s a good win, but we continue to start games slow and I don’t know when it’s going to stop. It seems like we have to take a punch before we start playing the way we can.”

Baldwin, which defeated Clarke, 1-0, in the season opener on a goal off the stick of Hayes, upped its record to 6-4 overall. The Lady Rams are 5-6, with all but one loss by a single goal.

“We’ve played everyone tough,” Clarke coach Leslie Murray said. “Today we were missing some starters so we had a bunch of girls playing in different positions. We have a nice mix of seniors and youth. We just need to find a way to pick up the offense.”

The Lady Rams, fresh off a 3-0 victory over Friends Academy two days earlier — senior Maddy Seims had a hat trick and Jen Sawicki assisted on two of the three goals — dominated the early stages against Baldwin and struck first on McNamara’s sixth goal of the season. 

“Bailey’s goal was picture-perfect,” Murray said. “It’s what she does. Defenses key on her all the time.”

Baldwin’s defense is just starting to hit stride, Hoover said, led by senior Kelsi King and juniors Elizabeth Madison and Gabby Feeney. “They consistently bail us out of trouble and get us going in transition the other way,” Hoover said.

After falling behind, the Lady Bruins turned up the pressure with senior Kayla Brown igniting the attack from the midfield. Clarke sophomore goaltender Madison Normile made a handful of tough saves to preserve the early lead, but Elcock eventually broke through following another offensive flurry with Hayes and junior Daniella Specht as running mates.

It was 1-1 at halftime. Seniors Victoria Sferrazza and Queenie Ho led Clarke’s defense. Trailing after Elcock found the back of the cage again, and with the clock on Baldwin’s side, Murray pushed Seims up to her natural position at forward after starting her in the midfield out of necessity.

“Maddy is quick and sees the field very well,” Murray said. “We were looking for the tying goal, but we didn’t get enough going.”

Sophomore Victoria Feeney made three saves for the Lady Bruins, who fell to Massapequa in the Nassau Class A title game last season. “This is the first year we’ll have a least a .500 record in Conference I,” Hoover explained. “We have about seven girls who played in last year’s championship game and getting back to the finals has been a topic of discussion.”