TURNER – When, not if, was the operative question Thursday when it came to the Leavitt Area High School field hockey team scoring.

And once the Hornets did deliver that telltale thump in the back of the cage, well, it was a little bit like that old potato chip commercial jingle. One just wasn’t going to satisfy the appetite.

Leavitt ended its frustration and finally broke a scoreless deadlock with five minutes remaining in the first half. After the break, the Hornets piled up four more and remained unbeaten in the Class B division of the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference with a convincing 5-0 shutout of Maine Central Institute.

“We were more determined,” said sophomore Courtney Erskine, who scored that elusive goal and tacked on a second strike at 4:36 of the second half. “We did a better job getting to the goal area.”

The Hornets’ explosive forward line, led by Erskine, Sarah Quimby and Lauren Doiron, pretty much camped out in that fertile ground throughout the first half, too. They were simply stymied by MCI goaltender Courtney Howe.

Howe took an aggressive stance early and saved the Huskies with numerous kick saves, many in quick succession. She finished with 21 stops and watched at least a half-dozen other Leavitt offerings trickle just wide of the cage.

“Today I think we had the most shots we’ve had for a while in one half,” said Leavitt coach Wanda Ward-MacLean. “I bet we had at least 15.”

On the flip side, MCI (0-3) fired only five shots at Leavitt sophomore netminder Kristen Capen all afternoon, as the offense flowed freely and almost exclusively in the opposite direction.

The second half yielded fewer point-blank bids but a dramatically higher success rate for the Hornets (3-0). Erskine redirected Quimby’s shot to make it 2-0. Quimby returned the favor less than two minutes later for a 3-0 lead after Howe barely snuffed out Erskine’s bid for a hat trick.

MCI’s best opportunity for a goal was disallowed when the ball deflected off one of the Huskies’ feet and past Capen.

That brief foray down the field did nothing to derail Leavitt’s momentum. The Hornets chalked up two more goals in the final 2:18. Doiron scored the first and set up Quimby for the second.

Leavitt has allowed only one goal in the opening week of the season, and that came off a defender’s stick in a 2-1 triumph over Camden Hills. A showdown looms at perennial KVAC power Belfast next Thursday.

“It’s a good group of seniors,” said Ward-MacLean, “but we also start three sophomores, and our first defensive player off the bench is a sophomore. We have a good mix.”

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