Early obstacles for Baldwin

Spring is just underway, and the Baldwin girls’ lacrosse team has already dealt with its fair share of challenges. The Lady Bruins began the season with major question marks about who would play in net for the club and whether or not one of their key players, Sarah Pulis, would be healthy enough to take the field. 

The club also had to deal with the absence of four of its players, because of a deep postseason run by the school’s girls’ basketball team. That included Pulis.

“We had a lot of things up in the air early on,” Baldwin head coach Rebecca LaFlare said. “I didn’t have my full team for the first three weeks of practice. It was definitely a tough start to our season.”

Last Saturday, the team had its hoops stars return to the lacrosse field. Now with things settling in for the Lady Bruins, LaFlare hopes the wins will start to come. 

“I tell the girls that on paper we have an excellent team,” LaFlare said. “It is up to them whether they are going to work as a team. Our last game was a little rough. You could tell they aren’t fully connected yet. But, some of the girls who have been here have really stepped up.”

Despite some early struggles, Baldwin has plenty of reasons to be optimistic. One of those reasons is the addition of eighth grader Tess Ferguson, who comes up to the varsity club packed full of potential. 

“Going from middle school to varsity is a big difference, and I think she’s been a little intimidated,” LaFlare said. “But, she has phenomenal skills. She can catch, throw and has speed. We’re just waiting for her to continue to blossom. Each game I can tell she’s getting more comfortable.”

Sophomore Katie Kallamy is another underclassman the Lady Bruins carry high hopes for. According to LaFlare her finishing abilities really make her standout. 

“Katie is a force to be reckoned with,” she said. “She’s very strong and has a really hard shot. Whenever she gets the ball going to the cage, we can always count on her to get a nice goal for us.”

Aisling Geraghty and Sam Conforti will be patrolling the midfield for Baldwin, and both have the skills to thrive in the role according to their coach.

“They have great speed and our both comfortable handling the ball in the midfield, which is really important,” LaFlare said. 

On the backend of the field there are many new faces. Returning defender Kelsey King will be leaned on heavily to help lead the inexperienced unit. 

“Kelsey is definitely the backbone of our defense,” LaFlare said. “We’re working with a whole new defense, so (Kelsey) is definitely holding things together back there.”

The Lady Bruins remain a work in progress, but LaFlare hopes to see the group’s on-field attitude continue to improve as the season goes on. 

“If you play with confidence, that’s what other players will see,” she said. “I just want them to be more confident, and have faith in each other.”