Netting a hat trick six minutes before halftime, Shariff became a facilitator in the second half, passing up quality scoring opportunities to give his teammates a share of the wealth. 

Still, Shariff finished with a match-high four goals and added an assist as the Blue Devils remained undefeated with a 7-2 victory over the Rams at Don Roux Field.

“He dished off two of three chances to other people to get other people a chance to score,” Lewiston coach Mike McGraw said. “He’s a very unselfish person even though he got four goals. If we let him, he could have scored two or three others.” 

Lewiston (7-0) has 19 goals in its last three contests. Saturday’s seven-goal output set a season-high mark after scoring six goals each in its last two matches.

Despite netting seven goals, the Blue Devils started slow. They went the first 13 minutes without a goal until Shariff netted two in 39 seconds in the 14th and 15th minutes. Abdulkarim Abdulle assisted on both goals and finished the match with three.

Shariff used his speed on each tally. On the first, he raced past Cony’s back line and chipped it over goalkeeper Justin Audet’s head and into the back of the net. On the second, Shariff got behind the defense and tracked down a through ball off the foot of Abdulle and again beat Audet to make it 2-0.

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“I don’t think about scoring,” Shariff said. “I just let the goals come to me. We started out slow so I was trying to get our team to play faster. I don’t look for the goals, they come to me.”  

The Blue Devils made it 3-0 when Abdikarim Ahmed converted a penalty kick after the Rams (0-6-1) were whistled for a hand ball in the box and Shariff completed the hat trick in the 34th minutes to give Lewiston a 4-0 advantage at the half.

“Lewiston’s a really good team,” Cony coach Jon Millett said. “They’re well- disciplined. They are highly skilled and they are lightning fast. They are a challenge.”  

The Rams didn’t quit in the second half. They scored twice on Lewiston goalkeeper Tom Jumper in the 49th and 54th minutes to get within 4-2. Nathan Foye got Cony on the scoreboard by drilling a direct kick into the top left corner of the net. Connor Perry scored Cony’s second goal. 

“I have to say Cony is much improved,” McGraw said. “Disregard the score. Years in the past their kids would have folded, but they didn’t. They kept playing and played hard. I have to give them credit.” 

Cony’s two second-half goals woke Lewiston from its slumber and it responded by scoring three goals in the final 15 minutes, capped off by Shariff’s fourth of the night with 6:23 remaining. 

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Mohamed Abdisalan and Abrahim Hussein scored two minutes apart to make it 6-2. Hussein connected on a perfect strike from 25 yards out, beating Audet to his left. 

“We played well enough to win,” McGraw said. “I think the kids read the newspapers or they read the heal points and they didn’t come out exactly ready to play, but they’re a talented group. They know how to get it done.” 

The Blue Devils held a 24-6 advantage in shots. 

mkraft@sunjournal.com 


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