Kemar Lawrence notched his first goal of the 2018 MLS season Saturday in a 3-0 win over FC Dallas.
Despite playing a man down for 63 minutes, the backline conceded nothing, all while finding space to get forward, which resulted in Kemar doubling the lead at the time.
“It’s funny because as soon as we went up 2-0 in the first half we were just really going to defend but coming into the halftime I already said to the guys just show what we’re made of, show what we’re about, and as defenders we kind of love these games,” Lawrence said. “We don’t want them to happen often but when it does happen we love it because we get to prove a point, we get to prove how solid our defense line is and I thought we did that tonight but getting a goal is always fun.”
The maturation process Lawrence has gone through during his time at the Red Bulls continues to show on and off the field.
“Kemar is such a great character in this locker room,” Robles said. “He not only brings a lot of positivity but just energy. And it’s not just in the locker room but in the game and we saw that today, the way he was able to get up and down the line, he created mismatches, he was a headache for them all ninety minutes and then, even when they tried to play the ball on the weak side, it’s not easy to win a header over him. So, it’s great that he got the goal but all together what he was able to do along with the entire defensive unit was amazing and that shut down a very, very, good Dallas attack.”
Head Coach Jesse Marsch praised his mentality and how dangerous he stayed all evening long.
“I told Kemar Lawrence after the game that I don't even know who he is when he's scoring goals and drawing red cards and all this kind of stuff,” Marsch said. “But Kemar -- you know what, Kemar, he's a guy that has a great mentality, who works for the team always, is an incredible defender, takes so much pride in defending and not giving up goals and not losing duels and not losing one-on-ones.”
