By Becky Terleski

The arrival of a pair of babies led to two new coaches this season for the boys and girls soccer teams. The teams said goodbye to coaches Bryan Welles and Elizabeth Allemang and welcomed Adam Obranovich and Vicki Hritz as the new head coaches.

Welles stepped down from the boys coaching position because he recently had a son and moved to Moon Township. His other son was entering his freshman year at high school, so he needed to be close to home to help out with family matters. Allemang stepped down from the girls coaching spot because she had a baby.

Both teams got off to a strong start. The boys varsity team began their season by winning six of their first nine games, while the girls varsity team won seven of their first nine games. Both teams’ first games against McKeesport were big shutouts: the boys won 11-0 and the girls triumphed 13-0.

Hritz, assistant coach for three years, took the opportunity to advance to head coach of the girls team after Allemang left.

“Luckily I have the support of the team members,” Hritz said.

Hritz said she enjoys being the coach of Baldwin’s team, since she was a former soccer player herself. Their focus this year has been to score more goals as well as practicing crossing, passing the ball back and forth, since they are already very good defensively.

Sophomore Kelsie Balsam had no complaints about the new coach, saying Hritz had the right ideas going into the season.

“She’s trying to make us more goal-hungry,” Balsam said.

Obranovich, coach for four seasons at California High School, decided to apply when he saw the Baldwin opening for head coach.

“The biggest goal is to change their mentality so that they believe they can win every game,” said Obranovich of the team’s improvement.

Senior Blaise Pfaff said that Obranovich knows what he is doing. He is easy to talk to and listens to the team members when they have input, Pfaff said.

“He is still figuring things out along with the team,” Pfaff said.

In the early part of the season, the boys’ team had a major victory against the once undefeated Mt. Lebanon with a score of 1-0.

“We beat Mt. Lebanon for the first time in my four years of high school,” said Pfaff, “and it was definitely the most memorable moment for a lot of us seniors.”

Obranovich said he did not know about the struggles with Mt. Lebanon in the past.

“I could see it in all of their faces, how happy they were to finally beat them,” Obranovich said.