Locust Valley boys soccer's Lucas Mejia scores twice to key quarterfinal win in coach Joe Lee's final home game
Lucas Mejia of Locust Valley shoots past goalie Ryder Marcus of Friends Academy during a Nassau Class A boys soccer quarterfinal on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026 in Locust Valley. Credit: Dawn McCormick
When Joe Lee gathered his Locust Valley boys soccer players in his middle school classroom for a meeting the day after their first scrimmage, he had no second thoughts. He had breaking news to share.
This 23rd season as coach of the Falcons and 26th in the program was going to be his last. More family time was on his mind.
“I wanted to let them know that it’s a special group, and I feel like we can do a lot this year,” Lee said. “I didn’t want to put pressure on them because it’s my final year, so I wanted to get it out of the way before the season, to talk about it.”
Thursday brought Lee’s final home game. Lucas Mejia scored twice and Oliver Dostalek made seven saves, helping second-seeded Locust Valley open pursuit of a Nassau Class A title with a 5-0 quarterfinal win over No. 7 Friends Academy.
“The emotion hit me,” Lee said, “really in the first half watching the team play, the way they were playing, moving the ball, high-level soccer. I just told the boys, when I started coaching here back when I was 22 years old, I wanted to build a program that played like that.”
So his 12-2 team, which has conceded only eight goals, moves on to the semifinals at 5 p.m. Monday at Farmingdale State against No. 3 Mineola, which defeated No. 6 North Shore 1-0 Thursday night.
“Hearing that it was his last year, it gave us that extra edge we needed during the season,” said Mejia, one of their 14 seniors. “Obviously, it showed today. Also, we’re not just playing for him. We’re playing for us. It’s our last year, too.”
Dario Ceja scored in the seventh minute, and Mejia converted a penalty kick with 17:11 left in the half.
Then Dostalek, another senior, gave an impassioned halftime speech. The Falcons had fallen to the Quakers on a late goal by standout forward Jack Steinberg in the 2025 semis.
“It was devastating for the team,” Dostalek said. “… So coming into the second half today, I told the team, ‘We’re up 2-0. … The second half is a brand new game. We’ve got to come out strong.’ ”
They did. Jack Kilpatrick and Mejia scored in the first six minutes — 4-0.
Dostalek later made a great leaping save, preserving the team’s ninth clean sheet.
Ryder Marcus made 13 saves for 6-8-1 Friends Academy.
“We had three starters out, so obviously that hurt,” said coach Edgar Posada, who was without Steinberg after around midseason, saying it was due to a heart arrhythmia. “Honestly, we were thankful to be at this point. We didn’t think we were going to make the playoffs.”
