Baldwin Ends East Meadow Girls Soccer Season

It was not a treat for the lady Jets this Halloween weekend as No. 6  East Meadow (8-5-3) was upset by No. 11 Baldwin (6-5-4) at East Meadow High School on Saturday.  Baldwin shutout East Meadow 2-0, advancing to the next round of the Class AA playoffs while ending the season for the Jets.

The heroes of the game for Baldwin were sophomore Alyssa Gangi and sophomore Ayanna Smith, each scoring a goal to give the Bruins their 2-0 victory.  It was the first varsity game for Gangi and the goal game with only 6 seconds remaining in the first half.  Smith's goal came in the middle of the second half to put Baldwin up by two scores with only 22 minutes remaining in the game.

The turning point was that first goal for Baldwin to end the first half breaking the scoreless tie between East Meadow and Baldwin. The goal came off of a corner kick by N'Dea Johnson and scored by Gangi.

Defense was the key for Baldwin as their goalie Amber Harrison posted her third shut out in a row to help the Bruins advance.  She had seven saves on the day and has continued to impress her head coach Darius Burton

"She has been playing really great," Burton said "She has really stepped up not allowing a goal in the past 240 minutes of action".

The bottom line for the game is that the Bruins where able to take advantage of their opportunities and East Meadow was not.  Both teams had their chances during the game but unlike Baldwin, the Jets could not find the net during the game.

"They gave our best effort, our touch was just off," Jets Coach Adam Hananel said of his teams performance. "I am very proud of them, we lost four of starters to injuries this year and they all did the best they could do".

Baldwin will now move on to face conference champions MacArthur (12-0-1) on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. In their last match up Baldwin tied MacArthur giving them their only blemish on an undefeated season so far.