Former Lewiston High School soccer standout and current Hearts of Pine soccer player, Khalid Hersi, left, and team co-owner Tom Caron, also a former Lewiston soccer player who is currently an NESN anchor, take a selfie during Thursday night's meeting with members of the new Portland-based professional soccer team at Lewiston Middle School. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

LEWISTON — Head coach Bobby Murphy wants people to know that the jersey might say Portland, but Hearts of Pine is Maine’s team.

That’s why club co-owners Gabe Hoffman-Johnson and Tom Caron, a Lewiston High School graduate, brought members of the staff and team to Lewiston Middle School on Thursday night amongst a crowd of eager youth soccer players.

Murphy also acknowledged that being in Lewiston was special because of the high school’s boys soccer team that has won four state championships, inspired a book and a documentary, and been a uniting force in a community made up of many cultures.

“To be a part of the new pro team, which is taking the soccer culture in this state to another level (is amazing),” Murphy said, “but it’s also humbling for the reason that we’re here, which is the program that just brings chills down your spine every time you hear about it.”

Murphy’s coaching career spans decades, levels and locations. This isn’t his first time in Maine. In 1999, he coached the University of Southern Maine’s men’s soccer team. He said his priority as a coach is investing in the community his team resides in, as much as it is developing skilled players.

“The best thing we can do is be an example,” Murphy said. “I was actually just speaking with (Lewiston High School boys soccer coach Dan Gish) about inviting high school coaches and club coaches to come in and visit us for four or five days, because it’s easier for them to come to us than for me to get everywhere, especially once the season starts rolling.”

He added that there’s an “open-door policy” with Maine’s high school coaches, because his aim to grow the sport throughout the state can’t be accomplished if Hearts of Pine is siloed to the Portland area.

Caron said one of his first ideas as co-owner of the club was to bring the team, in some capacity, to Lewiston.

“The passion for soccer here is incredible, and it’s different than when I played here,” Caron, a former Lewiston High School goalkeeper, said. “I played soccer as a kid, (but) they are so much better, and the technical ability of these teams now that play for Gish at Lewiston is unbelievable. It’s really cool to kind of bring my two worlds together.”

Caron said it’s important to note how the sport of soccer transcends ethnicities and language barriers — something particularly relevant in Lewiston because of its large community of immigrant families.

“Lewiston is such a melting pot, and soccer is so important to so many kids here,” Caron said. “They’re new to Maine, they’re new to America, but they’re not new to soccer. In fact, they can teach us a lot about soccer.”

Lewiston mayor Carl Sheline started introductions at Thursdays’ event by gifting each Hearts of Pine player present a pair of Lewiston soccer socks and a Lewiston Blue Devils water bottle. Among the players sitting on the panel was former Lewiston player Khalid Hersi, the first Mainer signed by Hearts of Pine.

“Hopefully, I can motivate the kids that want to become a professional soccer player that you can make it in Lewiston,” Hersi said. “You don’t have to play at a high level just to become a professional soccer player.”

Gish, who was Lewiston’s head coach for Hersi’s sophomore and junior seasons, 2020-2021, noted how important Hersi and his family have been to the Lewiston soccer community, and how exciting it is that the current players have a role model like Hersi to look up to.

“Look at all the young children that are walking in here, it just warms your heart, because they’re the next ones,” Gish said. “They’re the next ones that, if you do well in school, and you stay out of trouble, and you pick good friends, and you dedicate yourself like Khalid did …”

Gish sat on a panel alongside former Lewiston High School coach Mike McGraw and Lewiston Middle School coach Abdullahi Abdi, who is Khalid Hersi’s dad. Gish called Abdi and McGraw “the fathers of soccer in Lewiston,” and acknowledged how humble, passionate and caring the two men were while growing the sport at the high school and youth levels.

Khalid Hersi’s younger brother, Abdirauf Hersi, is a freshman at Lewiston. He said watching Khalid Hersi sign with Hearts of Pine is “very motivating,” especially after watching his brother pursue his professional soccer dream for many years.

“I’ve seen him put in that work all through the hard times, where he was getting rejected and stuff,” Abdirauf Hersi said. “It motivates all of the kids around the city, to believe they actually have a chance, now, that we can make it. A lot of kids in Lewiston think that they can’t make it to professional because they’ve never seen someone that made it.”

Khalil Ibrahim, another freshman on the boys soccer team, said that when he first moved to America, he didn’t think there would be many soccer opportunities in Maine, let alone Lewiston. Now, seeing the Hearts of Pine in his city has shifted his perspective.

Lewiston sophomore Suleiman Ilmi is proud to play soccer in Lewiston.

“Everybody, every kid plays soccer,” Ilmi said. “They play street soccer everywhere, Rosati, Hersi, neighborhood, everywhere. They play soccer. Most of the time, it’s easy to play soccer; if they find a soccer ball, they will play everywhere, no matter how the weather is. If it’s snowing or summer.”

Bowdoinham Elementary student Mohsin Keyre was excited to see Khalid Hersi again, and he hopes to one day play soccer professionally, too. He said he plans to attend a Hearts of Pine game, “if my mom takes me.”