Girls' soccer: Hornets get clipped

TURNER— The Leavitt girls' soccer team refused to be intimidated and performed at a high level in a Class B quarterfinal playoff game Tuesday afternoon.

The Hornets utilized their speed and togetherness and scrambled to the bitter end, but the their effort fell shy of their mission.

Lizzie Fischman scored the lone goal in the second half as No. 5 Yarmouth recorded a 1-0 victory against No. 4 Leavitt. Yarmouth 8-5-2 will play top ranked York in a semi-final game on Saturday.

Leavitt tried making its postseason appearance a memorable one and certainly had its chances. Several players stepped up, including midfielder Bri Hammond, fullback Hailee Mulherin and goalie Danielle DuBois (18 saves).

"The team stuck together," Leavitt coach Chris Cifelli said. "Danielle is only a sophomore and this was a high-pressure event and she had a great game. This was the first opportunity for them to perform on a stage like this and they did well. I'm just so proud of my girls."

Yarmouth had utilized its speed to go on the offensive by spreading the field to get the ball out on the wings. The constant pressure had Abbey Randall and Therese Raymond back pedaling. But the game remained scoreless for over 65 minutes.
Leavitt had an opportunity in the box, but Yarmouth quickly established a counterattack. Mo McNaboe streaked down the left side and passed over to Fischman. The senior squared up and kicked the ball the ball past DuBois high in to the far corner with 14:28 to play.

"We needed to play hard," said Fischman.  "There had been plenty of chances to score, but our team has had trouble capitalizing and we needed to stay composed."

Leavitt, which concludes its season at 8-4-3, had pushed every one up to try and create mismatches for strikers Tori Zupancic and Mariah Treadwell and Paige Landry who each had shots directed at Clippers goalie Samantha Fochler (seven saves). The Hornets encountered resistance from the Clippers sweeper Nalini Robbins.

"We did have some chances,"Cifelli said. "I was hoping to get the ball to Zupancic on the wing and have her cross the ball over to Treadwell in the middle, but we couldn't finish. Yarmouth had a lot of depth on defense and we had trouble getting through it."

In the first half, Hammond booted a free kick on goal and Zupancic' shot was cradled. DuBois rushed out to the top of the box to break up a rush and the ball caromed over to Fischman who hit the crossbar. Yarmouth led in shots 24 to 10.

"Leavitt played hard," Yarmouth coach Rich Smith said. "In the second half, we finally was able to put one in. Leavitt had a little trouble defensively when (Mulherin) was injured."