LEWISTON — Reaching the regional final has become an annual occurrence in recent years for the Lewiston boys’ soccer team.

When the Blue Devils host Hampden Wednesday night at 6 p.m., it will be Lewiston’s fourth straight trip to the regional championship.

Though top-ranked and unbeaten Lewiston (16-0) was a favorite to get this far once again, after winning last year’s Eastern A crown and losing in the state game, one thing the Blue Devils didn’t expect was having to play this game without one of its top players.

Senior midfielder Abdulkarim Abdulle will miss the Class A North final after getting red carded on a tackle in the 4-0 semifinal win over Bangor. Abdulle was an all-conference and regional all-star for Lewiston this fall and had both goals in the 2-1 win over Brunswick in last year’s regional final.

“We’ve talked about different types of adversity,” Lewiston coach Mike McGraw said. “That one, I didn’t see that coming.”

Though Abdulle is a significant piece of Lewiston’s game, the Blue Devils have plenty of talent to try to fill the void. Filling his role in the middle will be a challenge, but Lewiston also has all-stars in defender Zakariya Abdulle and forwards Maslah Hassan and Abdi Shariff.

“I’m not worried, but I’m cautious,” McGraw said. “I know that our kids are going to play their hearts out to get him another game because they love the guy. He’s worked his tail off all year for them. They’re going to work for him. We just hope that we play well and that we’re up to the task. I’m confident that we are.”

Lewiston has also had younger players step up and play well down the stretch and in the tourney so far. Dek Hassan has played well in the back while Noralddin Othman has been solid in the midfield. Maulid Abdow, Joseph Kalilwa and Muktar Ali have been sparks up front.

“We just have to play our game and play within ourselves,”said McGraw, whose team has outscored opponents 109-7 with 10 shutouts this season. “We know that every opponent is going to present some kind of problem we’ll have to deal with. Not doing it with Karim will be difficult, but I know our kids have been resilient. They’ve had a target on their back. I have to applaud them. They’re composure is excellent.”

Second-seeded Hampden has been a nemesis for Lewiston in recent years. The Broncos beat Lewiston in overtime in 2013 in the regional final. That was a showdown of the top two seeded teams as well. The Broncos (13-3) have regional all-stars in senior defender Brandon Chasse, forwards Nick Chassse and Nick Gilpin and keeper Kyle Townsend. Lewiston beat Hampden 5-1 in the final game of the regular season and then 4-3 in the KVAC championship game.

The winner of Wednesday’s game advances to Saturday’s state final at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.

Class D South

Reaching the regional final isn’t anything new for Buckfield either. The Bucks reached the Western D championship game last fall but lost to Richmond. This year the Bucks host the Bobcats at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

“We’ve had a lot of goals this year,” said Buckfield coach Kyle Rines, whose team hasn’t lost a game at home this year. “We thought we could be undefeated. We knew we could contend for a regional championship. It’s been the journey to get there. It’s all a credit to the work that they’ve put in. They’re’ confident. They’ve been led by a great group of seniors. There’s nothing I can really say we can improve upon other than going in Wednesday and giving it our all.”

The top-ranked Bucs (15-1) haven’t had a season like this in over two decades. Buckfield outscored opponents 57-9 during the regular season. That included two wins over second-seeded Richmond (11-4). Buckfield beat the Bobcats 2-1 at home and 1-0 on the road.

Richmond has been a program the Bucs have been chasing for years. Last year the Bucks were the underdog against the eventual state champion. This year Buckfield doesn’t just hope it can beat the Bobcats but know that they can.

“For me, it started this summer,” Rines said. “We played a lot of good teams. We didn’t lose once this summer. That’s when I started thinking that we had a pretty good team this year. Beating Richmond the first time kind of cemented that confidence that the Buckfield Bucks are the best team in the conference for the first time in awhile.”

The Bucks recently got all-star defender Zack Grover back in the lineup after being out with an injury. The Bucks also had seniors Hunter Wiley and Jon Randolph and sophomore Ethan Jackson named to the all-regional team.

The winner of Wednesday’s final plays in the state games Saturday at the Presque Isle Middle School.

Class C South

Fourth-ranked Monmouth (13-3) plays at second-seeded Waynflete (13-2-1). The Flyers have won a pair of regional titles in the last seven years, including the states in 2011. Waynflete finished the regular season with a 10-0-1 record in its final 11 games and posted nine shutouts. The Flyers allowed just six goals during the regular season. Senior back Willy Burdick and keeper Milo Belleau were both named to the all-region team for C South.

But, Carrabec gave the Flyers all they could handle. It took three rounds of penalty kicks for Waynflete to advance.

Monmouth has won a pair of thrilling overtime games against NYA and Hall-Dale. The Mustangs scored 55 goals during the regular season and have rallied from behind in both tourney games. Junior Hunter Richardson is a two-time all-state pick and senior Gage Cote was just named to the all-region team as well. The Mustangs have been without senior Chandler Harris in the last six games. His status for Wednesday is still uncertain

“Other than that, we’re good to go,” Monmouth coach Joe Fletcher said. “We’re banged up a bit but at this time of year, everyone is.”

The winner advances to the state games in Presque Isle Saturday.

kmills@sunjournal.com