Gritty Baldwin goes down fighting

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After a gutsy regular season, in which the team battled its way to the postseason after an 0-4 start, the fifth-seeded Baldwin boys’ lacrosse came up just short in its Nassau A quarterfinal loss at No. 4 Port Washington. The Bruins once again showed plenty of fight, rallying from a three-goal deficit in the second half to tie the game, but ultimately fell by a 10-7 final. 

Despite the disappointing finish to the year, Baldwin head coach Rich Garguilo was proud of the perseverance his shorthanded and exhausted group showed with their backs once again up against the wall in the final two quarters.

“It’s easy at a point for a kid to say I’m too tired, but they didn’t,” he said. “They found another level, competed and clawed their way back. It was really impressive to watch.”

Christian Vera, Marcus Brown and T.J. Salvatore were responsible for the three consecutive goals that brought the Bruins back from a 7-4 deficit. For Brown, it was one of his game-high four goals.

In the fourth quarter, the Vikings offered a push back of their own. Port Washington senior captain Brian Crawley netted a goal just inside the left post to put his club back ahead. James Alimonte then scored to make it 9-7 Vikings with 4:07 left, before Crawley scored another goal with 1:52 remaining to ice the game. 

Faceoffs proved to be a deciding factor in the contest. With Baldwin midfielder David Garcia injured, Port Washington faceoff specialist Tommy Dover took full advantage, winning 17 of his 19 draws. This made gaining possession a difficult task all day long for the Bruins. 

“Our game plan was to go with David against him, but David’s elbow was bothering him,” Garguilo said. “He took the first one and couldn’t go after that. So, then the plan became ‘he’s going to win the draw, let’s just try and take it away from him’. The kid did a very good job.”

Garcia missed significant time due to injury this season, as did attackman Dan Pulis. For a Bruins squad bringing along several younger players, this proved to be a difficult blow.

“When you’re developing guys, and you lose two key guys like that for any portion of the season, it’s tough,” Garguilo said. “We’re asking guys who don’t have varsity experience to go in there and execute against a Farmingdale or a Port Washington. Missing David and Dan really hurt us.”

The 2017 season did not go exactly to plan for Baldwin, but Garguilo hopes that it provided some useful learning experiences for the returning players.

“I thought we started off on the wrong foot, but were able to straighten the ship out towards the end,” he said. “We have a lot of our core coming back next year. Hopefully some of our young guys got a taste of what it’s like to play varsity, and will go out on their own and develop their stick skills.”