Uniondale holds off Syosset behind Edgar Velasquez's pair
Edgar Velasquez of Uniondale moves in on a breakaway in which he scored his second goal of the match in the Nassau Class AA boys soccer semifinals against Syosset at Mitchel Athletic Complex on Sunday. Credit: James Escher
More than a dozen years ago, Uniondale coach Cohen Nelson watched Edgar Velasquez play soccer as a four-year-old for the Uniondale PAL. The coach was struck by the youngster’s talent and gave him the nickname: "Gifted."
To this day, Nelson still calls his senior forward by that nickname. The veteran coach certainly knew what he was talking about, as Velasquez scored twice in a Nassau boys soccer Class AA semifinal at Mitchel Athletic Complex on Sunday.
Scrappy Syosset found a goal in the 77th minute, but could not get the equalizer as No. 5 Uniondale escaped with a 2-1 win against the No. 8 seed.
Benji Blair scored for Syosset (7-5-5) to cut the deficit in half with 2:12 remaining. Syosset had two direct kicks and one corner kick in the final 75 seconds but could not find the tying goal.
Uniondale (8-3-6) faces No. 3 Westbury (11-4-1) in the AA final at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Mitchel.
"There’s a thing sometimes you can’t even describe it, and that’s why [Velasquez] got that name [Gifted]," Nelson said. "There are things that you can coach and some things that just seem like a divine thing, and that’s what I think he has."
Velasquez has two goals and two assists in Uniondale’s two playoff wins and now has six goals and 11 assists this season.
"He has the innate ability to know what’s going on in the game," Nelson said, "and know what the game needs and give it."
Uniondale needed some scoring punch and Velasquez was able to provide. He scored on his team’s first shot of the game in the 28th minute to open the scoring.
"It was an amazing breakaway and thank God I put it away," Velasquez said. "I was kind of sneaky. I thought I was going to go far post but I went short side."
Immediately after he scored, Velasquez was subbed out after dealing with cramps and dehydration issues in Uniondale’s quarterfinal game.
In fact, Nelson was so concerned with many of his players’ health issues, he brought 20 coconuts and four dozen bananas, which were consumed during halftime as Uniondale led 1-0.
"I went old-school there," Nelson said.
Velasquez took a feed from Christian Mathurin and scored in the 65th minute as the lead doubled, which proved to be the winning tally.
"We knew we had to keep Edgar to a short leash," Syosset coach Brett Waxer said, "and when a player like that gets two opportunities inside the 18, he’s going to do what he does."
Be gifted.
