Sometimes change can be a good thing.

This fall’s soccer season proved that for some teams — especially the Leavitt girls’ squad. The Hornets last participated in a playoff during the open tourney years,  but that was their lone experience. This year’s drop down to Class B from Class A made a significant difference, and the proof is in the best soccer season in the program’s history.

“We started playing schools our size,” said Leavitt coach Chris Cifelli. “The biggest change that we noticed was the depth wasn’t as much of an issue. When we played the A schools, they were running five or six kids that were subs for them that might have started for us.”

Leavitt went 8-3-3 this year and earned the fourth seed in Western B. The Hornets haven’t lost in their last seven outings (4-0-3) and host Yarmouth next Tuesday at 3 p.m. Leavitt went 1-13 last year in KVAC A.

“At the start of the season, we got some wins and that gave us some confidence as well,” said Cifelli.

The drop down in class only gave the Hornets a better opportunity to succeed. When the team realized it could do well, it rose to the occasion after struggling through some lean years.

“The girls, for the last three years, they’ve really been very faithful and very loyal to what we were trying to do,”  said Cifelli. “They took a lot of criticism from people about what their record was, and they suffered for three years. This was some faith rewarded this year.”

This fall was different for the teams from St. Dom’s also. The Saints have been accustomed to a Western Maine Conference schedule but moved to the Mountain Valley Conference this year. St. Dom’s saw a new style but also found great success. The boys’ team went 14-0, earned the top seed in Western C and won the MVC championship game, beating Dirigo on Wednesday, 3-0. The girls nearly achieved the same feat, going 12-0-2, earning the top seed and beating Georges Valley, 2-0, for the MVC title.

“I’m very proud of the kids,” said St. Dom’s boys’ coach Matt Erickson. “What I think is most impressive is our goals for and our goals against. We had 79 goals for and nine against. In soccer, that’s a pretty significant number.”

That’s while playing a different style and on different fields than when they played in the WMC.

“In the conference a lot of the fields are smaller than the fields we were accustomed too,” said Erickson. “Our field is a regulation field. A lot of the fields were actually on a football field and that condensed the game a little bit. It changes the style of the game a bit.”

The St. Dom’s girls host Sacopee Valley in the quarterfinals next Tuesday while the boys’ host Livermore Falls in a Wednesday quarterfinal.

There are nine local girls’ teams in tourney action next week. The Edward Little (6-6-2) girls were the only local club to earn a post season berth in Eastern A, finishing eighth. They’ll play at Brunswick on Tuesday.

In addition to Leavitt in Western B, Mountain Valley (5-6-3), Jay/Livermore (8-4-2) and Lisbon (10-3-1) all earned playoff berths. Lisbon and Jay/Livermore both reached the playoffs last year while the Falcons went 1-6-7 last fall.

Joining the Saints in the C field are Mt. Abram (6-7-1) and Dirigo (7-7). Both clubs will play on the road next week at Hall-Dale and Georges Valley respectively.

In Western D, Rangeley, which lost in the regional final last year, finished fourth at 5-6-1 and plays at top-ranked Richmond.

On the boys’ side, Lewiston and EL earned tourney berths. The Blue Devils (9-2-3) host Erskine on Wednesday, a team with which they split. EL (8-3-3) plays at Hampden.

After losing in the Western B quarterfinals, Oak Hill (11-3) is back and hosts Lincoln on Tuesday. Gray-New Gloucester (8-5-1) and Lisbon (9-5) are also in the Western B field and play on the road in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.

In Western C, Mt. Abram (9-4-1), which lost in the regional final a year ago, earned the fifth spot and play at Wiscasset. Second-ranked Dirigo (12-0-2) hosts NYA. 

Buckfield (9-3-1) took the third seed in Western D and plays at Greenville in the semifinals late next week.