Thursday, October 1, 2026
No home field. No problem.
The Lawrence boys’ soccer team weaved a solid 6-3-1 conference record despite playing away from home the entire season.
Lawrence finished third in Conference A2, qualified for the playoffs and will face No. 3 Mineola in the first round Thursday. As usual, the sixth-seeded Golden Tornadoes will be on the road.
"Despite all the things we had to deal with this season, we ended up with a respectable league record,'' Lawrence coach Gerard Lagasse said. "We had our ups. We had our downs, but mostly ups. The boys showed a lot of character, fight and perseverance to play without having a home crowd or home field. I'm really proud of the team that they came together.''
Two days before the season opener, in early September, the team learned its artificial turf field was deemed unsafe by school officials.
Two of its home games were shifted to a neutral site at Lynbrook North Middle School. The other home games took place on the road. The team practiced on a grassy field at its school, then turned into road warriors.
"It's disappointing,'' star forward Corvin Pocasangre said. "The turf, I felt was still playable. It was a letdown for us. The grass field wasn't that good. It was a tough challenge.''
On. Oct. 14, Pocasangre scored the lone goal in Lawrence's 1-0 regular-season finale victory over Seaford to cap a 9-4-1 overall clip. Pocasangre notched 14 goals and 5 assists, finishing in the top 5 in Nassau County in scores.
"He scored some big goals, some big assists,'' Lagasse said. "He did what a striker is supposed to do – carry the team and be a leader.''
As a junior, Pocasangre struck for 6 goals, meaning he made an 8-goal improvement. "Just hard work,'' Pocasangre said. "Over the (summer) break, I trained hard.''
Still, this is a defense-first squad, spearheaded by the excellent work of senior goalie Gabriel Rosales, who posted 7 shutouts and allowed just 7 league goals. Rosales' save percentage climbed to .875.
"He had a bunch of clean sheets,'' Lagasse said. "He has athleticism and ability to make the hard save look easy. He's very good with his feet, which is a big part of the way we play. He starts the offense for us.''
Lagasse also cited several defenders that keyed its stout season, including centerback star, junior Andrew Rosales, who manned the middle of the field.
"He played everywhere defensively for me, which was huge because of injuries and red-card and yellow-card situations,'' Lagasse said.
Jason Arevalo was a sophomore standout wingback, moving up and down the sidelines and providing offensive surge. "He was all over the field,'' Lagasse said.
The most surprising performance came from centerback Nelson Martinez, a senior who didn't play much as a sophomore and junior before becoming a backline mainstay as a senior. "Without him, we would've been in a little trouble,'' Lagasse said. "The couple of games we didn't have him, we struggled defensively."
Lawrence also got offense from senior striker/midfielder Jeremy Cruz (2 goals, 4 assists). But defense ruled with its season-opening 3-0 blanking of Plainedge setting the tone. (Harold Garcia scored 2 goals in its biggest win against a past conference stalwart.)
"We were more defensive-oriented,'' Lagasse said. "We didn't score as many goals as we should have. I tend to focus more on defense. I believe if the other team can't score, you can't lose.''
Last season, Lawrence advanced all the way to the Nassau Class A finals before losing to eventual state champion Floral Park.
Can the Golden Tornadoes repeat that thrust? "Preseason, I was afraid,'' Pocasangre said. "We didn't have a shape and a full team with injuries. But we found our shape in the first game and I feel pretty confident now.''
