Dylan Leon, Owen Gordon connect to power Friends Academy boys soccer to win
Dylan Leon of Friends Academy, second from left, is congratulated by his teammates after sending a goal into the net during a Nassau boys soccer game against Locust Valley on Wednesday at Friends Academy. Credit: Dawn McCormick
Dylan Leon and Owen Gordon saw the opportunity for a season-shaping moment. Their Friends Academy boys soccer team had shown only glimpses of their potential and lining up against a Locust Valley squad that had reached the 2023 Nassau Class A semifinals gave them a spot to show what they could be.
With Leon and Gordon leading the way, the Quakers turned in their best game of the season to score a 4-2 Conference AB3 victory over the visiting Falcons.
Friends scored three unanswered goals in the first 12:33 and never let Locust Valley take over control of the game the rest of the way. Gordon and Leon assisted each other on the first two scores and Leon would finish with two goals and two assists.
“It was an important game for us and we played one of our best games,” Gordon, a sophomore forward, said. Added Leon, a junior midfielder, “this should solidify us as one of the best teams in the conference.”
The Quakers (4-2-1, 4-2-1), missed the postseason by a single point a year ago and, with only one returning senior, were youthfully inconsistent in the first half of the season. But as Friends coach Edgar Posada explained, “There were lessons from the first half of the season and they have learned from them, they cleaned a lot up.”
Leon was on the right wing in the opening moments and found Gordon alone in the box for an easy goal in the second minute. About seven minutes later Gordon returned the favor by laying out a perfect pass for Leon to collect on the left wing and shoot across the grain into the right side of the goal.
“Those two are players who are going to be looking to play at the next level and they connect well,” Posada said. “They find each other in the openings.”
“He sees the entire field incredibly well — it’s his backyard,” Gordon said of Leon.
“We have developed a lot of trust in each other,” Leon said. “With other players I do my best to [anticipate] where they’ll be. With [Gordon], I know where he is all the time.”
Leon’s second goal came off a centering pass from Jack Steinberg with 27:27 left in the first half, but the Quakers’ prettiest score came when Leon made a long cross-field pass to Sebastian Martinez just two feet in front of the right side of the goal.
“You can see they’ve been working a lot and improving since the last time we played,” Falcons coach Joe Lee said, referring to the teams’ 1-1 tie earlier this season.
The scoring is always the headliner, but there was more to Friends in this win. The team passing was crisp and the Quakers were patient to let shots develop. And when the Falcons made threats, most ended on the foot or head of junior defenders Mircea Manu or Aidan Lloves
Stefano Linardos had his team-leading sixth goal of the season and Andrew Villanueva had a goal for Locust Valley (3-4-3, 2-3-3).
“I like the way this group is playing now,” Posada said. “They work together. They’re not individuals. They’re a real team.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
