Thrust into the goalkeeper’s role, Leavitt’s Jordan Beall has excelled.
By Kevin Mills
Staff Writer

TURNER – Her first year, Jordan Beall had to depend on others for her success.

Now the Leavitt girls’ soccer team is depending on their talented junior goaltender.

Beall was thrust into the goal as a freshman but has emerged to become one of the league’s brighter young players while backstopping a Hornet club hoping to challenge for a playoff berth.

“Jordan brings confidence to the midfield and confidence to the whole team because she’s back there,” said Leavitt coach Mark Thibodeau. “She’s just a natural born leader. She’s not afraid to get dirty. She’s just a very confident young lady. That confidence flows through the other kids.”

Named the team captain as a junior, along with seniors Alanna Leonard and Allison Kenney, Beall has established herself as a well-respected leader.

“I’ll go to her,” said Thibodeau. “I respect what she has to say. It helps me make adjustments at the half. She knows the game and she’s confident.”

It wasn’t always that way. When Beall came in as a freshman, she was tossed into the fire with a young team in front of her. Fortunately, she had her sister, Elise, spearheading the defense. So she introduced herself to a new level of play with a little help from her friends and sibling.

“I played with most of the girls who started that year but my sister played in front of me,” said Beall. “So she stopped a lot of the pressure that I was going to face. She really did keep me from getting beaten on that year.”

Since then, Beall has become very capable in her own right. She’s very athletic but very knowledgeable about the job. She positions herself well and plays with poise and confidence. She’s shown a much more commanding presence this season, taking charge behind the defense.

“She’s playing a lot more physical this year,” said Thibodeau. “That was her biggest downfall the last two years. She had the confidence, but I don’t think she had the confidence in herself and saw herself as an imposing figure in back of the defense. She’ll come out now and challenge the ball. Right off at the beginning, she’ll send a message to the forwards so that they’ll see she’s a sizeable kid that is willing to come out for the ball.”

Beall also possesses a mighty but seemingly effortless kick. One boot from Beall and the Hornets’ defense is out of trouble.

“She’s a chip up to the midfield from the goal,” said Thibodeau. “She can blast it past the midfield. You don’t see that in girls’ soccer. One kick and you’re off to the races and going the other way. It allows us to have a quick change from defense to offense.”

Beall became a goaltender while playing youth soccer. In fifth grade, she realized that most girls weren’t willing to play goal. So it was her opportunity to play and establish herself.

“I just volunteered for it, and I enjoyed it,” she said. “I was playing a lot and playing everywhere on the field. When I’d go into the goal, I really just loved it. It really just fit, and I’ve played ever since.”

This past summer she went to a soccer camp at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where her sister now attends. It was an experience like no other for her.

“It was a really intense soccer program,” she said. “They have a really good team and a good coaching staff. Of all the camps I had been to, this was a much more intense program. They really worked us hard for five days. We were really getting beaten on and seeing a lot of shots. It was a different level of soccer from what I had played.”

It was an excellent lead-in to this season. Beall and the Hornets hope to take their own play up a notch. With a senior group that includes veterans like Leonard, Kenney, Sarah Rioux, Lindsay Sierra, Annie Dyer and Desiree Dufault, the Hornets felt poised to do turn some heads this season. Beall knows how important this season is to her team and to herself.

“I think this is my year,” she said. “I have such a strong team that supports me. Last year, I had a hip injury and played out the season with that. This year I’m hoping to be injury-free and have a really good year with a lot of the seniors. It’s a great group of girls that work really well together.

Leavitt is currently 2-4-2 and ranked 14th in Eastern A. The Hornets are coming off a well-played 2-2 tie with Edward Little and have shown promise against top echelon teams, losing to Brunswick 1-0. The Hornets finish the year with teams like Cony, Lawrence, Oxford Hills and Skowhegan, all clubs the Hornets could compete well with. They also have point-rich foes in Lewiston and Waterville. So the opportunity to move up is certainly there.

“I really want to step it up,” she said. “We need to play hard this year. It’s our big year, I think. There are a lot of girls that want to work well together and a lot of them have been playing together for a real long time. There are a lot of seniors that are really pumped to win some games this year. So we’ve been really working hard.”