TURNER — The Leavitt offense finally found its stride in the fourth quarter, scoring twice in a 3-0 KVAC field hockey win over Edward Little on Tuesday.
The Hornets kept Edward Little goalie Kasey Smith busy, though the their aim was slightly off for most of the game.
“We kept shooting wide,” Leavitt coach Wanda Ward-MacLean said. “Eve Martineau had that nice shot in the corner that hit the tire (on the goal cage) — that was just wide — and Ava (Gagnon) hit one wide, and we had a bunch that went to the outside (of the net).”
Gagnon, who scored a goal and had an assist in the fourth quarter, said that Edward Little did well defending and limiting Leavitt’s ability to get the ball into the net.
“I would say most of (my teammates) weren’t getting a touch on the ball,” Gagnon said. “(Edward Little) had a lot of girls in their defensive circle.”
Edward Little coach Kim Joler said that her team’s defense played well.
“I thought defensively (the players) worked hard,” Joler said. “They are moving the ball forward, but we can’t fill the gaps that need to be (filled).”
After a scoreless first quarter, Emma Beedy blasted a shot past Smith (five saves) early in the second quarter to give the Hornets a 1-0 lead.
Leavitt (9-1) kept the ball in the offensive circle for most of the second and third quarters, but their shots either went wide or were stopped by Smith.
The Red Eddies didn’t turn their stops into offensive opportunities. Joler said that too often they cleared the ball in the same direction.
“For whatever reason, we enjoyed our left side, and it’s not the ideal side,” Joler said. “We kind of got stuck on our left side. So switching fields needed to happen, and it just didn’t.”
Edward Little (1-10) had a nice offensive chance in the fourth quarter when a shot was fired toward a half-empty cage, but Leavitt defender Cara Jordan cleared the ball out of harm’s way.
“Unfortunately, when you don’t have a lot of pressure on you, you can relax too much,” Ward-MacLean said. “Cara did a good job, plus we had to move her to the middle of the field after Daisy (Twitchell) got hurt.”
Leavitt regained offensive possession and started to put shots toward the goal. Maddie Morin gave the Hornets some breathing room when she deflected a Gagnon pass into the goal with less than six minutes remaining in the game.
“Maddie has done well throughout the whole season,” Gagnon said. “She has been able to finish and put the ball in.”
Gagnon capped the scoring with a goal in the final two minutes.
“She has been one of our big scorers,” Ward-MacLean said. “She has a knack of touching the ball in (the circle), and she has these subtle moves that move the ball around to different (players). She has been really important for us.”
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