LEWISTON — There’s that saying, “offense wins games, but defense wins championships.” Both Lewiston and Edward Little showed off their defensive prowess Tuesday in a 0-0 draw in a boys soccer regular-season finale.

“I thought both teams played solid defensively,” Blue Devils coach Dan Gish said. “We had opportunities, so I felt good about our opportunities, and we’ve just got to keep carrying that going forward. … The real season starts now. No one cares about your (regular-season) record. The seedings fall where they are.”

Both teams entered the rivalry showdown comfortably in playoff position. The Blue Devils (9-1-4), ranked third in the latest Varsity Maine boys soccer poll, look to have the second seed in Class A North wrapped up, while the Red Eddies (5-5-4) likely will be the No. 4 seed.

All five of Edward Little’s losses are to teams in the top seven of the Varsity Maine poll — No. 3 Lewiston, No. 4 Camden Hills, No. 5 Greely and No. 7 Brunswick (twice). Each loss was by one goal, and all but one was a 1-0 score.

“If this group can figure it out, I think we’re going to be pretty dangerous once we can put some balls in the back of the net, because defensively, I think we’re pretty solid,” Red Eddies coach Max Thompson said. 

STRONG KEEPERS

Blue Devils senior goalie Will Diamond-Stanic stopped all five shots he faced, the final one a diving save off a free kick in the second overtime. He anticipated several scenarios before the shot.

“I’m setting up my wall; I like, three there, just so I’m not getting overly screened, especially since there’s angle,” Diamond-Stanic said. “My thought there is, I want to deny a back post to the left footer, to curl it into the back post while still covering enough of the near post … there was something with a flash to the wall, so I was a little bit worried about a pass past the wall, but I called to a defender to mark it, and then set and it just came over right as I knew it would come if they were shooting near post. I reached over and made the save.”

Senior Max Kimble also was strong in the Edward Little net with six saves in the pressure-packed matchup.

“It’s a lot of pressure; one mistake can cost us a game,” Kimble said. “I  was lucky that I didn’t make much mistakes today.”

Kimble said reading the ball’s bounces was a challenge because the dewy turf allowed for strange bounces and extra skips. He also knew corners would be vital, since Lewiston’s only goal in its 1-0 win on Sept. 20 was off a corner with about five minutes remaining, but he has good help in front of him.

“(On corners), it’s my defense; they’re very good,” Kimble said. “We’re very good at getting the ball out very fast. We don’t really mess around in the middle there.”

STATISTICAL LEADERS

• Lewiston: Will Diamond-Stanic (shutout, five saves)

• Edward Little: Max Kimble (shutout, six saves)

THEY SAID IT 

• “I think what’s interesting is I feel like we always bring out a really good game from them, not necessarily the other way around. They always try really hard, and if you look at the things, one of our problems is obviously energy. They outworked us the whole time, and they beat us to every ball. It’s always really impressive, especially going back through the years, how even when they’re lower seeded than us and theoretically have less talent, they show up to play and they fight.” — Will Diamond-Stanic, Lewiston goalie

• “To be honest, I think we’ve played well against top teams. Camden, Brunswick twice, Lewiston, twice, Greely; we’ve held up well against all the top teams. This is a good team, and I would have liked to have gotten some better results against some of the other teams that we played that maybe aren’t at the top of the league. But if we were able to score a little bit more, I think our results, our wins, would be a little bit higher, and I think we wouldn’t be caught in the middle of the pack so much.” — Max Thompson, Edward Little coach

• “We’ve been on the winning end and the losing end, and soccer can be a cruel game. It’s too bad you can’t settle it on the field, but that’s just the way the game is set up. It’s wonderful when you win, and it’s not fun when (you lose). These guys are good guys, we’re deep, and that’s what I like about our team. We’ll fine-tune some things tactically, and that’ll be our focus.” — Dan Gish, Lewiston coach