They got that and more Friday night.
Noralddin Othman netted a pair of second-half goals and Abdi Shariff-Hassan scored in the first as Lewiston pulled away from Camden Hills, 3-1, at Don Roux Field.
Lewiston is now 10-0 on the season.
“The toughest opponent we’ve played, I thought Camden Hills played great,” Lewiston coach Mike McGraw said. “We had a great deal of opportunities that we kind of squandered, but that’s because they played us tough. We have to take advantage of the opportunities that we have, because from now on, things get tougher.”
“This game was a tough game,” Othman said. “”We played tough as a team, as a family. We worked hard together.”
The Windjammers blew into town hoping to keep the Devils’ offense in check. Lewiston had scored four or more goals in every game this season — until Friday.
“They work really hard and move forward very, very quickly,” Camden Hills coach Ryan Hurley said. “They send bodies at the goal, and it works.”
That strategy worked for Lewiston on its second goal, Othman’s first and the team’s first of two in the second half. After a rush through the middle, Camden hills keeper Lucas Boetsch dove forward to make a save. Maslah Hassan crashed hard coming the other way, and when Boetsch couldn’t secure the ball, it popped to the right side of the cage where Othman buried it.
He added a second strike on a laser from 25 yards as traffic came away from the net at him.
“I didn’t see anything, actually,” Othman said. “In practice, we are always taking shots like that. I saw the ball and knew I had to take a shot. Coach always tells us to take the shot.”
“The second one, my keeper got run over and there was a no call, and not a very good one,” Hurley said. “He was right there on the ball and they kicked him. It was kind of garbage. The other one was a nice goal.”
The pair of goals capped an offensive flurry for the Devils that began on the opening tap of the second frame, after McGraw delivered a stern message to the team during the break.
“We said, ‘Possess the ball, play more of a one-touch passing game, to move the ball, to move ourselves, and find an opportunity,'” McGraw said. “Teams are only going to give you so many opportunities, and we had to find in the second half what those opportunities were and they came through.”
Lewiston lapsed into a defensive shell in the latter stages of the half, and the Windjammers jumped on the chance to play offense. Kienan Brown fired a rocket from 30 yards on a line, beating Lewiston keeper Austin Wing under the crossbar to pull the visitors within two at 3-1.
“The kids played hard, that’s all you can ask for,” Hurley said.
Lewiston used its speed for most of the remainder of the night to play keep away and secure the win.
“Nobody has pace everywhere like they do,” Hurley said. “Nobody. Some people have a little bit of pace up front, but they have pace everywhere.”
Shariff-Hassan’s goal came just 5:11 into the game on a great pass from the right side by Maslah Hassan, who picked off a throw-in and raced to the corner before serving the ball to the middle.
“Those are the opportunities you have to take advantage of,” McGraw said. “That was a very nice goal.”
It was one of a shrinking number of opportunities the team will get as the team rolls toward the playoffs.
“The opportunities become fewer and fewer in every game, so we have to make sure we know how to finish when we’re supposed to,” McGraw said.
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