Lewiston scored two goals less than 30 seconds apart late in the first half to create separation, then piled it on with seven more goals in the second half for a 10-1 win in a KVAC Class A boys’ soccer game at Don Roux Field on Saturday.
“That’s the game plan every game with every team is just we’re going to play the offsides trap and make them figure it out,” Mt. Blue coach Joel Smith said. “And unfortunately they figured it out, and that was the difference.”
Lewiston coach Mike McGraw said he thought his team was prepared for the trap, but 10 offsides calls in the first half said otherwise. Muktar Ali said it got frustrating, but the Blue Devils (5-0) kept pressing, and eventually they broke through.
Mwesa Mulonda fed Ali into the left side of the box, and Ali pushed a low shot past Mt. Blue goalie Tucker Carleton to make it 1-0 25 minutes in.
That one-goal lead stuck for a while, as the trap was still showing signs of success.
“We’ve just been working on it all season long, but it’s not something we work exclusively on,” Smith said. “It’s just the guys that are playing back there understand it, and to be quite honest, we don’t really work that much on it at all. It’s just something that we do, and it’s something that this group — it’s a chemistry, and they kind of know where they’re at.”
Led by the senior center back Thomas Marshall, the Cougars (1-2-2) have a veteran back line, and it gave fits to a Blue Devils attack that is still trying to grow together through most of the first half.
Then Lewiston found the key to breaking the trap.
Joseph Kalilwa made a run on a cross by Maulid Abdow and got past the defense before beating Carleton, who was stuck in no-man’s land high in the box. Abdow then scored on his own 28 seconds later to make it 3-0 with three minutes before halftime.
“We started to solve it towards the end of the half,” McGraw said. “But at the halftime we talked about it a little bit more, and we had a better understanding of where to go with the ball.”
Goals came early and often for the Blue Devils in the second half. Ali scored three minutes in, then Bilal Hersi scored from Mulonda a minute later. Abdow fed Hersi three minutes later to make it 6-0.
“In spots after the goals we just kind of, for lack of a better term, smacked in the mouth trying to shake it,” Smith said. “And they just hit.”
Ian Hussey, a senior who is listed as a defender on the roster and who rarely sees varsity action, made it 7-0 midway through the second.
“I was determined to score. I had a feeling today that I was going to finally score,” said Hussey, who tallied his first varsity goal much to the delight of his teammates. “I’m not going to lie, I was blushing.”
Ibn Khalid scored less than 10 minutes later, hitting on a feed from Yusuf Mohamed, who also assisted on Hussey’s goal. Then Ben Musese scored the final two goals for Lewiston. Khalid assisted on both.
The second came just seconds after Hunter Bolduc scored the Cougars’ lone goal. Khalid tapped the reset touch to Musese, who blasted a shot over the head of Cale Talbot in goal from midfield.
By the end of the game, the Blue Devils’ attack started to play to its lofty potential.
“We started possessing the ball. We kept moving the ball. We kept playing wide. We just kept moving the ball and giving through passes,” Ali said. “We start trusting each other, we can be really good. In the first half, we weren’t moving the ball that much. In the second half, we started trusting each other, moving the ball, and keep our heads up and stay onside.”
“It’s a process,” McGraw said. “And it’s coming.”
On the other side of the field, Smith was less than thrilled with his team’s attack. He felt his team had chances, especially in the first half when the outcome had yet to be determined, but there weren’t enough shots by his side. The Cougars failed to put a shot on goal in the first half, and finished with just four. Lewiston, meanwhile, put 18 on frame.
Dalton Wing finished the game in net for Lewiston, making three saves after taking over for an injured Alex Rivet late in the first half. McGraw praised Wing for being ready to be thrust into action.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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