LEWISTON — This was payback times two.
Lewiston had ample reason to put its best foot forward in Tuesday night’s boys’ soccer home opener against Erskine Academy. It was the Eagles who knocked the Blue Devils out of the Eastern Class A playoffs in last year’s quarterfinal round.
Throw in Lewiston’s frustrating shutout loss at Morse to start the season and, well, Erskine was in the wrong place at the wrong time to pay for a crime it didn’t commit.
Shobow Saban scored two of Lewiston’s three first-half goals in a convincing 4-0 victory at Don Roux Field.
“Three goals in a half? We don’t usually score three goals in three games,” said Lewiston Mike McGraw said. “I don’t know where that came from.”
Saban, one of the Devils’ dozen seniors, credited a long offseason and long weekend, both of which gave Lewiston (1-1) plenty of time to ponder unfinished business.
“Our first game, Morse played really physical and we looked confused,” Saban said. “Today the captains gave a talk about how important the second game was. We needed to win.”
Lewiston’s sense of urgency showed in its aggressive approach to every 50-50 ball in its offensive end.
That paid immediate dividends in the ninth minute of the game. Curtis Robinson won a battle with his Erskine defender just shy of the goal area.
Robinson rifled a pass ahead to Ali Hersi, who found Saban all alone at the left post. Saban deposited the Devils’ first goal of the season past Eagles goalkeeper Brian Potter’s diving stab.
“The kids came out to play, and I think we caught them by surprise,” McGraw said.
Lewiston made repeated runs and earned quality shots throughout the first half. Potter made a flurry of saves — one a charging to deny Caleb Leino — to keep it at 1-0.
Two goals in the final nine minutes essentially put it away.
Freshman Yusuf Yama connected after the Devils won another one-on-one confrontation from 25 yards away. This time Benji Saban made the pass.
Later, Shobow Saban soared above a sea of heads at the goalmouth in front of Potter, popping Chase Cote’s free kick from the left sideline into the cage.
“The first one wasn’t my favorite goal. The second one, I love scoring that kind of goal,” Saban said. “That’s why I celebrated so much.”
Any whooping, hollering and high-fiving was brief, because Lewiston maintained its attention to detail in the second half.
Robinson, Joe Sullivan and goalie Scott Ouellette (11 saves) headlined an experienced defense that kept Erskine (0-1-1) from capitalizing on a couple of quick opportunities.
Lewiston padded the lead at 13:16, Leino laying claim to another 50-50 ball and blasting it home.
“We knew we didn’t play our game last time,” Saban said. “When we do, it can be like this, 3-0 or 4-0 or 5-0. We needed better teamwork. This isn’t like cross country where you can run by yourself. You need everybody working together.”
Ouellette tipped a scorching shot by Darrell St. Jean over the crossbar to preserve the shutout. His Erskine counterparts, Potter and Zack Busmanis, combined for 13 saves.
koakes@sunjournal.com
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