HAMPDEN — Lewiston’s fairy tale season was upstaged Saturday by Cheverus’ Cinderella story.

Despite being outplayed in the first half, the Stags built a 2-0 lead and held off a furious Lewiston comeback to earn a 2-1 win in the Class A boys’ state championship soccer match at Hampden Academy.

It was just the second state championship appearance for Lewiston, which also lost in 1991.

“It’s a cruel game,” Lewiston coach Mike McGraw said. “Our kids did such a good job. They played hard. They played well. They didn’t let calls affect them. We had two great chances. It just wasn’t the right time.”

Cheverus (11-4-4) was the seventh seed in Western A, but upset both second-ranked Falmouth and top-ranked Scarborough en route to the regional title.

“We have to congratulate Cheverus,” McGraw said. “They came out of the seventh seed and beat the No. 2 team. They went to penalty kicks and beat the three-seed, and knocked off the two-time undefeated state champions. They had momentum going. They were patient and resilient.”

The Stags continued the kind of play that helped them reach the state game: solid defense and opportunistic offense.

“We capitalize on opportunities and stand tall in the defensive end,” Cheverus coach Colin Minte said. “We play good defense. We haven’t allowed a lot of goals. We capitalize on set pieces and counters. If we do that, we can beat anybody.”

Andrei Vile and Brady Levesque had the goals for Cheverus. Jacob Tomkinson was outstanding in goal. He made 14 saves, including one on a penalty kick in the second half. Lewiston outshot the Stags, 21-7.

“He’s probably played the best playoffs I’ve ever seen,” Minte said. “He’s been absolutely unbelievable. He’s the reason we’re here. Since the season started, he’s just gotten more and more confident.”

Lewiston outshot Cheverus 13-3 in the first half and had a number of quality chances, but Tomkinson made the stops. Hassan Mohamed had a nice cross for Abdulkarim Abdulle early. The keeper intercepted a cross from Abdikarim Ahmed. Abdi Shariff hit the left side of the crossbar. Mike Wong had a free kick hit the corner of the crossbar and post.

After all of that, with 4:55 remaining in the half, the Stags fired their third shot of the game — and took a 1-0 lead. Vile chased down a Will Peterson pass on the right side. Instead of settling it, he just let it rip.

“When it bounced over my head, I knew I wouldn’t be able to head the ball in,” Vile said. “I just hoped for the best. I tried for the Hail Mary shot. It went perfectly.”

It was a stunning blow to Lewiston, which had only trailed in a game once all season.

“They definitely controlled the first half,” Vile said. “We weren’t getting a lot of opportunities, but we had known that once they get scored on, the whole momentum changes and that’s what happened.”

Lewiston tried to regoup and rally for the equalizer in the second half. The Blue Devils were a little erratic defensively early on, and Cheverus took advantage for a 2-0 lead with 31:27 left. Levesque got an open look and put home a low shot.

“The second one woke us up a little bit, but you can’t give a team that’s had a run like that any momentum ” McGraw said.

With 30:18 remaining, Lewiston caught a break. A handball call in the penalty area led to a penalty kick. Shariff took the shot, but it was low and just to the left of Tomkinson, who leaned that way for the save.

“We’ve worked on PKs for awhile,” Tomkinson said. “I was going to guess that way and he ended up kicking it below me. So I was able to drop on it.”

Lewiston (16-1-1) struck with 25:21 left. Abdulle made a rush from the left side past a couple of defenders. He had Shariff in front. His cross from the corner found the net and got Lewiston within a goal.

The Blue Devils pressured the Stages the rest of the way, but couldn’t net the tying goal. Shariff had a shot blocked and Maulid Abdow had a header following a corner saved. Cheverus did a nice job of limiting the chances and pushing the attack the other way.

“We battled,” McGraw said. “We came very close to getting the equalizer. That’s the way it is. It’s a cruel game sometimes.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link