In the fall of 2015, the Blue Devils made their run at the school’s first state soccer title in one of the whitest states in the country, and in a city that hadn’t talked about hope for a very long time. But theirs is more than just a heartwarming sports story. On the surface, the championship quest of the Lewiston soccer team makes for a simple, feel-good tale: Refugee kids make good by playing soccer. Ibrahimovic couldn’t have done it better. Not waiting for the ball to land, Hassan flung his right leg into the air for a one-touch goal, taekwondo style. Stopping short with just a few yards to go, Abdulle flicked the ball with the outside of his right foot over the maroon-shirted defenders and toward Hassan. Sprinting down the field with no fewer than three Red Eddies marking him, star player Abdi Shariff-Hassan made a long pass to teammate Abdulkarim Abdulle.

In a 2015 playoff game against Edward Little High School, the rival school just across the Androscoggin River, the Lewiston Blue Devils took possession of the ball with just 11 minutes left on the clock. But it reminded me of Maslah Hassan, a high school soccer player in Lewiston, Maine. Galaxy fans into a frenzy, and with good reason. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s debut goal for Major League Soccer, a stinging rocket he pulled out of the air some 40 yards from the box by contorting his body and throwing a leg up high, sent L.A.

One goal amy bass