Leavitt goalie Hailey DeMascio looks to make a save off a tipped shot by Oxford Hills’ Brooke Carson during the last minutes of regulation play Thursday afternoon in Turner. The ball deflected past several Oxford Hill’s players who could not get a stick to direct it home and the game went into overtime where Leavitt scored the 1-0 victory.
TURNER — With more space in the 7-on-7 overtime, Leavitt senior Kaitlyn Leclerc used a power move that’s more suited for a turf field than a natural turf surface.
She picked up the loose ball at midfield with her stick in her right hand and used her left forearm as a shield to fend off Oxford Hills defenders. She made her way down the field with Vikings players crashing down on her. Once she got into the circle, she returned her second hand to her stick and fired the ball into the back of the cage to lift Leavitt to a 1-0 victory.
That goal just 2:32 into the overtime session gave the Hornets a sweet senior-day send-off.
“I feel really confident when I go one handed,” Leclerc said. “It’s one of my strengths I have. It’s kind of going down the field, I just look straight to the goal. I am determined to get the shot off as soon as I get into the circle.”
The Vikings (2-8-1) had their opportunities late in the game, earning four consecutive penalty corners in a 1:10 stretch in the final four minutes.
“We were just talking about how we don’t always feel like there’s a whole charge in the circle and how we get that to happen,” Oxford Hills coach Cynthia Goddard said. “So we can have more people in and around attacking the ball. We get there, but we don’t come with our forces to finish it.”
Leavitt coach Wanda Ward-MacLean said her team was getting tired, and giving the Vikings corner chances one right after another didn’t help the cause.
The Hornets (8-4) had a penalty corner in the final minute of regulation, also, but they, too, missed the chance to score.
Leavitt dominated the first half, with nine penalty corner tries to none. Overall in the game, Leavitt held the advantage in penalty corner tries, 16-4.
“The insert (of the penalty corner) was sometimes slow coming out,” Ward-MacLean said. “If it’s slow, it’s hard to get a shot off or do anything. A lot of our balls go to Kaitlyn (Leclerc) right off the bat there and they really started double teaming her. It was a little frustrating for her. We made some passes and adjustments.”
The Hornets had some good chances in the first 10 minutes of the game but Vikings starter in goal Kaisa Heikkinen made a couple of kick saves. She had four saves in the first half before Madison Day played in the second half and the overtime session. Day also made four saves.
“We are kind of used to that at this point of the season because they have been making great saves all along,” Goddard said. “To us, that seems like an everyday thing because they do it everyday in practice.”
Hailey DeMascio made four saves for the Hornets to earn the victory in the cage.
nfournier@sunjournal.com
Leavitt’s Ginny Twitchell foreground and Oxford Hills’ Jade Smerberg battle for the ball during Thursday afternoon’s field hockey game in Turner.Leavitt’s Kaitlyn Leclerk, right, tries to block a shot by Oxford Hill’s Lauren Merrill during Thursday’s game.
Leavitt goalie Hailey DeMascio looks to make a save off a tipped shot by Oxford Hills’ Kate Bowen, left, after teammate Brooke Carson, right, took a swipe at it during the last minutes of regulation play Thursday afternoon in Turner. The ball sailed past everyone and the game went into overtime where Leavitt scored the 1-0 victory.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
