Baldwin tops MacArthur in OT

Alessandro Garcia missed playing high school soccer in 2014 after electing to compete at the club level, but nothing was going to prevent the talented forward from taking the field for Baldwin in his senior campaign.

After contributing a goal and six assists during the regular season and helping the Bruins earn the No. 7 seed in the Nassau Class AA playoffs, Garcia put them into the quarterfinals last Friday with a dramatic double-overtime goal that beat defending county champion MacArthur, 1-0. He took a crossing pass from junior Leo Vanegas, and with his back to the cage, turned and fired from 15 yards out and beat MacArthur junior goalkeeper Sean Lyons, who was partially screened, with a chest-high blast with 10:56 remaining in the second 15-minute OT.

“Alessandro is most dangerous when he gets the ball with his back to the cage,” Baldwin coach Mike Palumbo said. “He can go left or right. Earlier in the game he went left and their keeper made a good stop. In OT, he faked left and went right and scored just an incredible goal.”

Lyons made nine saves, including a dazzling stop on Garcia with 23 minutes remaining in regulation. Lyons also robbed junior Nyrik Antione on the doorstep eight minutes into the second half. “We were knocking on the door all day,” Palumbo said. “Their goalie deserves an awful lot of credit. He made an outstanding point-blank save, and one of their defenders made another one. We beat them 1-0 during the regular season, but we didn’t test him very much. I’m glad we found a way to get one by him.”

The 10th-seeded Generals (5-6-4) managed seven shots against Baldwin senior keeper Mario LaMacchia, who like Lyons came into the game with six shutouts. 

“We had some trouble finishing all year,” MacArthur coach Andy Atkins said. “We had our chances today. When the ball bounces in the box, you’ve got to finish it. 

“We battled and didn’t get blown out of any game,” he added. “We had a strong defense and strong keeper and averaged giving up less than a goal a game. Our issue was scoring.”

MacArthur’s offense was compromised before its title defense began because senior Guisseppe Barsallo suffered a season-ending knee injury during the summer. Seniors Justin Norcini (four goals, seven assists), Chris Vendra (four goals, four assists) and Joseph Branciforti (three goals) picked up the slack, while Norcini, sophomore Andrew Sweeney and senior Brian Kennedy led the defensive effort.

Baldwin (8-3-4), which advanced to face second-seeded Massapequa in the quarterfinals, didn’t allow a goal to the Generals in almost 180 minutes of soccer this season. Seniors Jack Thibault, Carlos Padilla and Dominic Francois, along with sophomore Christian Gauthier, handled most of the defensive work last Friday. Sophomore John Gamble and senior Eric Boci (team-leading five goals) kept the Generals’ defense on its toes.

“We’re excited,” Palumbo said. “MacArthur’s a tough team. We knew that from the first time we played. Now we’ll see what we can do against Massapequa.”