LEWISTON — Coach Mike McGraw tried to warn his team Monday night.

After building a quick lead in the opening half, McGraw didn’t want his players resting on their laurels. He knew what to expect from Mt. Ararat and wanted his kids to be prepared.

“We exploded out early,” McGraw said. “I told them at halftime that they better be ready because Mt. Ararat would be coming after us, and they did.”

Lewiston answered that challenge in the second half and finished off a 4-1 win over the Eagles. The Blue Devils scored three in the first half but withstood a stronger second half by Mt. Ararat.

“We played well through it,” McGraw said. “We persevered. Mt. Ararat is a great team. Their kids play with great heart. That’s always one of those things where you have to be able to withstand that.”

Abdirahman Shariff and Abdulkarim Abdulle each had a goal and an assist for Lewiston (2-0). Muktar Ali and Mike Wong also scored for the Blue Devils, which host Edward Little on Thursday and play at Hampden on Saturday.

Robbie Small had the lone goal for Mt. Ararat (1-1).

“We just didn’t come to play,” Mt. Ararat coach Rick Renaud said. “(Lewiston) came out and played hard like a team should. We didn’t. It’s as simple as that. You can’t come out against these guys and play soft. We played soft in the first half.”

Lewiston scored on three of its first five shots. Another one of those bids was a nice attempt that was saved by a diving Jon Roux in the Mt. Ararat net.

Shariff scored the first one just 6:38 into the game. Abdulle dished the ball to his right, leading Shariff. He took it from there and put it past a charging Roux for the quick lead.

Then at 11:25 Abdulle and Gage Cote were side-by-side on a rush down the middle. Cote put the ball forward for Adbulle, who blasted it home.

A freshman made it 3-0 with 16:40 let in the half. Ali took a pass from Shariff, made a nifty move around a defender and chipped a shot to the top of the net.

“I’m very happy with how we played that first half and how we persevered with the pressure they put on us in the second half,” McGraw said.

Mt. Ararat didn’t have a shot on goal in the first half. It’s best bid came on a shot that went wide with 1:45 left in the first half. The Eagles played a little more aggressively and were able to possess the ball a little more in the second half. Instead of allowing Lewiston to continually transition into an attack, Mt. Ararat was able to force it the other way and created some pressure on the Blue Devils.

“We played maybe 20 minutes of good soccer,” Renaud said. “This is supposed to be probably one of my best teams. Sometimes they come to play and sometimes they don’t.”

Mt. Ararat thought it had a goal early in the second half when a rebound bounced off Lewiston keeper Austin Wing and was put into the net. The whistle had already blown because of a foul call against the Eagles, much to Mt. Ararat’s displeasure.

“Not only are you guys good today, but you’re lucky,” Renaud said to the Lewiston bench with smile.

Then minutes later, a defensive mistake allowed Small to score with 29:32 left.

“There was a miscommunication between my goalkeeper and a defender and that’s how they got that goal,” McGraw said.

The Eagles had a rush by Kenny Stimpson late in the second half but Wing was able to charge out and break it up. Though Mt. Ararat put some pressure on the Blue Devils defense, Lewiston made some solid plays in their own end and Wing did a fine job in net.

“You could see it was getting physical but my guys didn’t lose their composure, which I was very happy about,” McGraw said.

Lewiston finished off the victory with 4:54 left on Wong’s goal. He’d just returned to the game after leaving with an injury. He took a dead ball and put it into the top left corner from about 40 yards out.

kmills@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link