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LEWISTON — Just two games into his freshman season, Camden Hills forward Daniel Schenk doesn’t have an extensive high school soccer resume, but Tuesday’s performance against Lewiston may already be his career highlight.
After the shorthanded Blue Devils tied the game with a 63rd minute header, Schenk responded with two goals in the next four minutes to give the defending Class A champion Windjammers a 5-3 victory.
Both goals were on second-shot opportunities. Schenk kicked in the first off a Will Diamond-Stanic save (three total), just 26 seconds after Lewiston’s Dan Dimandya evened the game at 3-3. He capped the scoring by heading in a Luke Tobias free kick off the top left corner post in the 67th minute.
“The first one, it just fell to my feet, and I’m there,” Schenk said. “And I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this happened.’ Then this kid (Tobias) put (a) flipping nasty — NASTY— free kick outside and I just head it, and I just, bang. And it was just like a pure moment of bliss. And I was just like, ‘Damn, I’m going to remember this.’ It was just amazing.”
Camden Hills improves to 2-0 , while Lewiston drops to 1-1. The Windjammers have won the last four meetings between the two schools, including the Class A North final last season that was decided in penalty kicks.
“This is the best rivalry right now in Maine high school soccer,” Camden Hills coach Ryan Hurley said. “Every time we get together, it’s electric, and it didn’t disappoint. It wasn’t the cleanest game that either of us have ever had. I mean, the possession game was clean by both teams, but in front of the net, usually we’re both a little better than that.”
Tobias, a senior midfielder, had a hand in two other Windjammer goals, both off second-half corner kicks. In the 46th minute, a Tobias pass from the left corner clipped the top of Lewiston defender Ilyassa Katou’s head and went into the net, giving the Windjammers a 2-1 lead.
Camden Hills took a 3-1 lead in the 53rd minute when Tobias bent a ball from the same spot to Mac Pierce’s right foot for a quick tap.
“We lost a really good goal scorer last year, like 26 goals and an All-American, so we’re like, how can we make up some of those goals?” Hurley said. “And set pieces is definitely one of those things.”
Lewiston also scored off a corner kick. After two leaping saves by junior Oscar Barnes (seven total), junior David Francisco hammered a 56th-minute header home to make it 3-2.
As Lewiston players tried to pick up the ball and take it back to midfield, Pierce attempted to kick it away. Nathan Dimandya pushed Pierce to the ground as both sidelines were upset. The Lewiston captain was initially given a red card by the referee, but after a discussion with both coaches, Mechi Mbele was assessed the red card. Dimandya returned to the field, but Lewiston finished the final 24:24 with 10 players.
With the numbers disadvantage, Lewiston coach Dan Gish was forced to make formation and personnel changes to keep his team competitive in the attack. It worked in the 63rd minute, as Dan Dimandya scored the equalizer on a header off a saved free kick.
“They’re a good team,” Gish said about Camden Hills. “They play hard, they’re organized, they put the ball in dangerous spots on set pieces, on their corners, and we just did not execute defensively. We’re not going to make excuses. We’re going to come back from this, for sure. And you know what, I’m really proud of my guys answering every call. And you know, we were in it.”
Jasper Hackett scored the Windjammers’ first goal in the 13th minute. The Blue Devils tied it 1:20 before halftime when Camden Hills defender Simon Bishop redirected an Mbele cross past his own keeper.
