LEWISTON – Only the grass covered more ground than Husayne Carnegie did Friday night at Franklin Pasture.

Whenever a Leavitt forward broke free with the ball, Carnegie would go and take it away. Anytime Carnegie had the ball on his foot, he’d send it ahead to a teammate or blast it deep downfield.

The Lewiston co-captain and sweeper simply played a flawless game defensively to help the Lewiston Blue Devils shut out the Hornets 2-0 in a KVAC boys soccer match.

Hussain played midfield and forward for the first half of the season before being switched to the sweeper spot, a position he used to playing on his traveling club team. The move has solidified the Lewiston defense. Friday night, it neutralized the Leavitt offense.

“He’s the best player in the conference,” said Leavitt coach Isaiah Davis. “Now that he’s back at sweeper, it’s hard for teams to score on them. He disrupts the other team.”

“The concept comes from you can’t lose if you don’t give up a goal,” said Carnegie. “There’s no one man that needs to be up top scoring for us. It’s a good system.”

Shirwac Hussain Ali and Jonathan Roy both scored for the Blue Devils (6-5-2) in the second half.

Ali netted the first goal nine minutes into the second half on a set up from Carnegie. With the ball amid traffic in front of the Lewiston goal, Carnegie boomed the ball deep downfield. Ali was victorious in his one-on-one battle with a Leavitt defender for the ball and pushed ahead. He then fired a quick shot past keeper Kevin Mulherin (eight saves).

Midway through the half, Roy picked up the insurance goal. After blocking a clearing attempt in front, Roy settled the ball and deposited it into the lower right-hand corner of the goal.

Lewiston had the edge in shots by a 22-12 margin, but most of those shots sailed wide of the target.

“We’re not that accurate,” said Lewiston coach Mike McGraw. “Because of the change, it’s different from what we started out to do. It’s growing pains.”

Keenan White turned away seven shots in goal to earn the shutout.

The loss proved damaging to the Hornets (5-6-2), who began the week as the No. 14 team in the latest Heal Point standings with only 13 teams making the postseason.


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