LEWISTON – Husayn Carnegie has a knack for finding a seam in a defense and he certainly knows how to finish.
Tuesday night he displayed both of those talents as his two goals lifted the Lewiston Blue Devils to a 2-0 win over the Oxford Hills Vikings in a KVAC boys soccer match at Don Roux Field.
Carnegie didn’t get a lot of scoring opportunities. He had one chance on a breakaway late in the match and two others in the first half, but both of those before the break were successful.
Carnegie’s first goal was set up by Matt Manley who sent a pass ahead to the streaking Carnegie. Carnegie found an opening and Manley executed a pinpoint pass to send the junior forward through an opening. He then fired a low-bounding shot into the far left corner past Viking keeper Dave LaRoach (18 saves).
“It was a really good through ball,” said Carnegie. “Anyone can score when they get a through ball like that.”
His second score was even prettier as midfielder Dave Patry deftly directed a touch pass onto Carnegie’s left foot on the wing. He took advantage of LaRoach sliding across the crease to pound the ball behind the keeper to the far post.
“Dave’s a great player,” said Carnegie. “He sees the field really well. A lot of times a guy will just put his hand up and he sends the ball through.”
“We made two mistakes defensively,” said Oxford Hills coach Bob Foster. “(Carnegie) came up from midfield and capitalized both times.”
The Blue Devils (6-2-1) carried the play for much of the night against the winless Vikings (0-8), but the visitors had their share of chances. In the first half, Andrew Ward fired a shot from the left wing that Lewiston keeper Brian Nason (11 saves) dove to stop. A quick follow-up shot was also deflected wide.
During one sequence late in the second half, the Vikings had a pair of scoring chances. First, a 45-yard blast by Rodney Payne was heading for an open spot just under the cross bar. The 6-foot-4 Nason used his entire wing span and leaping ability to deflect the ball away.
“He sized it up and tipped it over the bar,” said Lewiston coach Mike McGraw. “He wasn’t going to get two hands on it, but he got the one.”
Moments later, the Vikings were awarded an indirect kick from about eight yards out. Nick Castanzi’s shot was slowed by the wall of defenders. Amid a scrum of players from both sides, up from the crease and the heavy traffic came Nason with the ball.
“I saw two or three guys in there kicking,” said McGraw. “I didn’t know if they were kicking at the ball or at him, but he held on. I was scared he might get hurt. It was a huge pileup.”
While the Blue Devils outshot the Vikings 12-6 and carried the play for much of the second half, they couldn’t put the game away.
“I thought we improved in ball movement and overall territory-wise,” said McGraw. “But we need to distribute the scoring. If we can get a few more guys to score and take pressure of Husayn, we’re capable of beating a lot of teams.”
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