Baldwin evens conference mark

With its five senior captains leading the charge, Baldwin scored the first 11 goals last Saturday and cruised to a much-needed 12-5 victory at Freeport in a Nassau Conference A-I boys’ lacrosse matchup.

Senior Dylan Ferguson had four goals and three assists, junior Christian Vera netted a hat trick, junior Nate Holmes added two goals, and senior goalie Jared Tiong-Smith scored on a man-up advantage in the third quarter and made eight saves to lead the Bruins, who evened their conference mark at 2-2 and picked up a third win in 10 games overall. All of the offense for the Red Devils (1-3, 3-5) came in the fourth quarter, including a pair of goals by Justin LaRocca.

“We’re relying heavily on our seniors and they’re all doing a nice job,” Baldwin interim head coach Mike Hoover said. “They deserve a lot of credit for us being in playoff contention. It’s not only how they perform, but how they lead the younger guys and conduct themselves.”

The Bruins started quick against Freeport, which won three of its first four games of the month but are now stuck in a three-game slide. Ferguson opened the scoring at 3:04, set up Holmes at 7:18, and then made it 3-0 at 9:16 when he converted a pass from sophomore Ronnie Manchese-Silano, who scored a shorthanded goal early in the second quarter for a 4-0 cushion.

“He only started playing last year and worked really hard over the summer,” Hoover said of Manchese-Silano, who assisted on senior midfielder David Garcia’s man-up goal. Ferguson got his third 11 seconds later, then Vera scored twice and Holmes with 32 seconds left in the half for a 9-0 lead. 

The large deficit wasn’t for a lack of effort from the Red Devils, who in their previous game, an 11-8 loss to Kennedy, got a hat trick and one assist from Jose Olivo, three points from Javian Allen (two goals), as well as nine saves from goalie Donovan Watson.

Watson replaced Christian McCain at halftime last Saturday and couldn’t stop counterpart Tiong-Smith from scoring for the third time this spring. It was a man-up goal 1:59 into the third quarter that upped the margin to double digits. 

“Jared is very active in and out of the cage,” Hoover said of Tiong-Smith, who in the first half carried the ball from behind his own goal to enemy territory before he was stopped by a solid hit. “He has good stick skills and we’ve been using him on the man-up.” Junior Lucas Wachbanger, who slides between the pipes when Tiong-Smith is aiding the offense, made five saves in the win.

After having difficulty cracking a Baldwin defense spearheaded by seniors Malcolm Bell and Jordan Arboret, the Red Devils found some success late in the game. Allen, Gerard Smikle and Clint Davenport added a goal apiece. 

The Bruins will try to keep their momentum going at Port Washington this week, while Freeport attempts to get on track with upcoming games versus East Meadow, Uniondale and Hempstead.