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On April 29, 2017, Kemar Lawrence scored the second goal of his career with New York Red Bulls: a 71st-minute strike that ultimately edged RBNY to a 2-1 win over Chicago Fire.
It was a good goal: under pressure, Lawrence conjured a confident, side-footed jab to the far post that...well, that we're not accustomed to seeing from him. In his time with RBNY, Lawrence has tended to be a pass-first, shoot-only-when-unavoidable sort of player, and when he does shoot, it often serves as a reminder that he's well advised to look for the pass first.
Once A Metro was so unfamiliar with the situation, a cry for help was issued.
Something is wrong with my feed. Telling me Kemar scored a goal. Someone set me straight.
— Once A Metro (@Once_A_Metro) April 30, 2017
And help arrived:
@Once_A_Metro I think "that" was a pass.
— sjjn (@sjjn) April 30, 2017
@Once_A_Metro Idk if that was Kemar's intent tonight think he was looking back post but his attack side has looked exponentially improved this year
— Bates DeLucas (@BatesBudBud) April 30, 2017
The "Kemar didn't mean to score" hypothesis was supported by no less an authority on goal-scoring than Bradley Wright-Phillips, who told RBNY's 91st Minute segment: "Great to see Kemar again with another great performance and a goal. I think he was trying to pass to me, but still a goal."
Lawrence's goal was such a curiosity, questions about his intent made their way into the team's post-game media chats. Goalkeeper Luis Robles was a little further away from it than BWP, so he deftly side-stepped the invitation to speculate:
It was a goal, that's all that matters. The last three games, Kemar has been unbelievable and when you look at that level of play, that's something that we expect out of him. And when he plays like that, there aren't too many other left backs in this league that can keep up with him.
I'll let him tell you that. But I'll also say this: He played a ball that was similar to that in Atlanta, right, and it ended up in an own goal. Whether it was -- that's part of the idea when you play balls like that is to make them threatening but also potentially balls that can go into the goal.
As soon as I saw that space, I'm just trying to get into space, trying to get a cross at first - but everything was taken away; so I just said I'm going to try for the far corner, low and hard. Because all week this week, we've been shooting balls low, because we watched a couple of clips on the goalkeeper and he doesn't get down there too well so I was just trying to put it in the corner, and I did that.