Dramatic OT win for Lawrence

Practice made perfect for Alan Martinez.

Lawrence’s sophomore midfielder drilled a dynamic 30-yard direct kick just under the crossbar 5:24 into overtime last Friday to give the Golden Tornadoes a thrilling 3-2 victory over visiting Herricks in a Nassau Class A boys’ soccer first-round playoff game.

The 13th-seeded Highlanders scored twice — the second with 8:08 remaining in regulation — while dominating the second half to erase a two-goal deficit but were unable to complete the comeback.

“I saw the goalie favoring the left side, so I aimed for the right post,” said Martinez, who routinely works on long free kicks in practice and pregame warmups. “I thought it had a chance and it’s definitely the biggest goal I’ve ever scored.

“Herricks has a great team,” he added. “They could do as much as we could. We just kept fighting and took it.”

And with the flick of Martinez’s right foot, the fourth-seeded Golden Tornadoes (10-1-1) extended their unbeaten streak to eight consecutive games and punched their ticket to the quarterfinals against No. 5 Mineola, with the winner advancing to this Friday’s semifinals at SUNY Farmingdale at 6:30 p.m.

“He’s made shots like that in summer league and every day in practice,” Lawrence coach Pat Leary said of Martinez, who had eight goals and six assists during the regular season. “But I don’t think I’ve seen a better goal in a high school game, especially considering the moment,” he added.

Junior Mauricio Puerto-Quintanilla scored twice in the first half — once off a feed from Martinez and the other assisted by junior Danny Cifuentes-Reyes and the hosts held a 2-0 lead at intermission. Senior goaltender Pedro Ramirez finished with six saves.

On the winning goal, Cifuentes-Reyes said he was racing towards the net and “hoping for a rebound” that fortunately never came. “It was a tough second half, but hopefully this is the start of something special like coach said,” he noted. “Our whole team fell asleep in the second half. Maybe we got too comfortable, I don’t know. Herricks had all the momentum.”

Senior Jose Silva scored both goals for the Highlanders, who two days earlier beat Great Neck North in an outbracket game, 4-1, behind his two tallies and a pair from senior Demetri Nictas. Silva’s first goal against Lawrence came four minutes into the second half.

“They’re a quality side,” Leary said. “I’ve been on the other end where we’ve dominated and didn’t get a winning result. So I’m good with the win even though we didn’t play our best. At this point in the year, it’s all about moving on and we’re thrilled to be one of the last eight teams left.”

Lawrence won the Conference A5 title with a mark of 8-1-1. Its only defeat came at Floral Park on Sept. 20, 2-1. Floral Park, the No. 10 seed, eliminated No. 7 Hewlett by that same score last Friday.