TURNER — Field hockey goaltenders practice defending against penalty strokes much the way firefighters occasionally answer the call to a controlled burn.

They would rather not deal with the real thing. Never mind twice in one day.

Leavitt Area High School junior Taylor Eells stepped up in such an emergency twice Tuesday afternoon, once in each half against Camden Hills.

She denied Kayla Hart with eight minutes remaining before intermission, then later stonewalled Taylor Porter 12 minutes from the end of regulation to protect a 1-0 Hornets victory in a clash of unbeaten Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B clubs.

“One is pushing it. Two is just a lot,” said Eells, who has allowed only one goal on the season. “Very nerve-wracking.”

In each case, Camden Hills (3-1) aimed high to the left side of the cage, or at Eells’ stick hand.

Eells swatted Hart’s bid with a pivot and a wave of her blocker, then triumphantly pounded one of her leg pads with her stick as her teammates converged in celebration.

“Those (high shots) are the ones that I like, and they picked my good side,” Eells said.

Although the stroke itself was a one-on-one situation, keeping the Windjammers off the scoreboard and protecting the first-half lead was a team effort for Leavitt (3-0).

Camden Hills was awarded its first stroke after senior defensive back Karina Rodriguez dove belly-first to smother a shot that eluded Eells and was ticketed for the back of the cage.

The play was both illegal and completely necessary.

“That was definitely going in,” Rodriguez said. “If you don’t see anybody, all you’ve got to do is stop that ball at all times. Just do whatever it takes.”

It was Eells herself who withheld the ball from a huddle of Windjammers the second time, conceding the uncontested shot from roughly seven yards away but surely preventing a goal from even closer range.

Her efforts seemed to awaken a Leavitt defense that had fallen back on its heels in the second half.

MyKayla McCann and Bri DeGone each broke up a potential Camden Hills scoring opportunity and cleared the ball to midfield in the final three minutes.

DeGone’s effort led to an extended Leavitt possession, including two hard shots by Adrie Newton, that essentially sealed the game.

“We got a little tired, and they became more aggressive. They were beating us to the ball in that part of the half. Then all of a sudden the last three minutes we decided we’d go get it,” said Leavitt coach Wanda Ward-MacLean. “We just tried to stay marked up person-to-person and get our sticks down on the ground. In the first half we did that. The second half we got tired, so we started standing up.”

Leavitt’s speed in the open field produced a flurry of first-half scoring opportunities.

Newton cashed in with 12:24 remaining.

DeGone delivered a long pass to Newton, who was one-on-one with Camden goalie Sarah Nason.

“I just tipped it off her pads,” Newton said. “We usually always score late, so we wanted to get one in the beginning.”

Eells and the Leavitt defense shut out a Camden Hills attack that outscored its first three opponents 16-1.

In addition to the two strokes, the Hornets withstood 12 penalty corners. Eells made 15 saves.

“Even though Adrie scored, we had a bunch of chances,” Ward-MacLean said. “We hit the post. They hit the post., Both teams had some good opportunities.”

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