The thought of following your older sibling and doing whatever he or she is ingrained in everyone who’s ever had an older sibling. With three sets of sisters running around the field hockey compound at Leavitt Area High School these days — and excelling at their sports — you won’t hear anyone in the green and white complaining much about that.

Kayla and Sadie Royer, Casey and Cheryl Fichter and Morgan and Emily Shaw all cracked the Hornets’ roster this season, creating the unique family dynamic on an already tradition-rich, familial squad.

“(The two seniors, Kayla Royer and Casey Fichter,) are two of our captains, and it’s important that they do set a good example, not just for their sisters, but for the whole team,” Leavitt coach Wanda Ward-McLean said.

Not that they don’t perhaps ride their siblings a bit tougher, though.

“They can probably work with them and give it to them a bit more than someone else might be able to, because it’s their sister,” Ward-McLean said. “They’re all sisters, and like sisters they argue about stuff. But they get along pretty well.”

The Royers have some separation when they’re on the field at the same time, given that Kayla plays on the back line and Sadie is up front, but there is obvious chemistry with the Fichters, Ward-McLean said.

“Not so much with Kayla and Sadie, because they are so far apart,” Ward-McLean said. “But with Casey and Cheryl, they’re both forwards, and they’re only two years apart, so they play a lot together in the winter, too.”

Most of the time, the fact that the younger sibling plays is due in part to the older sibling picking up the sport in the first place.

“I think a lot of times, when you have siblings like this, when the older one starts playing, the younger one wants to be like the older one and they pick up the sport,” Ward-McLean said. “In some cases, they both start at the same time in a youth program.”

That’s what happened with the Shaws, who are only one year apart in school. Morgan is a junior, while Emily is a sophomore.

“They’re only one year apart, so they’re right together,” Ward-McLean said. “And they’re very supportive of each other. I think they argue less than the other two sets.”

Arguments aside, the sister acts at Leavitt have helped the Hornets to a successful season to date. With a 6-3-0 record, Leavitt sits in the middle of the Western Class B field with five regular-season games remaining and some important, Heal Point-rich games on the horizon.

“We’ve had some disappointing losses, but we have some good games coming up that are worth a lot of points,” Ward-McLean said. “Our fate’s in our own hands.”

Holding down the fort

Despite being winless on the season — and still searching for its first goal — St. Dom’s is still in position to potentially make the playoffs. As of Wednesday night, the Saints are 0-9-1, with a critical tie against Hall-Dale early in the season.

One of the biggest reasons the Saints have remained close in most of their games despite the lack of goal-scoring is the team’s veteran backstop, Jenna Fongemie.

“She’s been outstanding,” St. Dom’s coach Brian Kay said. “We’re still looking to get that first win, but all in all, she’s done a great job. She’s made some incredible saves.”

That’s something Fongemie is used to, having played the position at the varsity level since she arrived at St. Dom’s.

“When she came in, she was a goalie, and she’s been our goalie ever since,” Kay said. “This year she’s really stepped up, been more aggressive. She’s coming out, challenging people more. That’s a good thing. It’s like she’s coming out of her shell almost.”

Fongemie’s emergence this year has allowed the rest of the young Saints to learn around her.

“My front line is two freshmen and a sophomore, we’re young,” Kay said. “I have four seniors and three juniors, the rest are young.”

To help add some numbers to the program, Kay helped begin a middle school squad this season.

“We started the middle school team this year, which is a first for the school,” Kay said. “We have 18 girls playing in that league, and (former standout player) Chelsea Fournier’s coaching that. That will be our feeder program down the road.”

For now, the Saints will continue searching for that first goal in support of Fongemie.

“All it’s going to take is one big win, or even a tie,” Kay said. “We just need to get that first one.”

Thinking positive

Winthrop had a difficult time seeing the good in Wednesday’s 2-1 home loss to Spruce Mountain.

Spruce scored two goals in the final eight minutes to sneak off with its second win of the year over Winthrop. The Phoenix previously edged the Ramblers, 4-3, in overtime at Jay.

Well, here’s the good news: No other team in the MVC has beaten Winthrop (7-2-1). A 2-2 tie with Mountain Valley was the only other scar on the Ramblers’ record.

Both Spruce Mountain and Mountain Valley are Western Class B teams. Winthrop won’t see them anywhere near the Eastern Class C playoffs. And best of all, the Ramblers continue to show a knack for playing well at both ends of the field in their toughest games.

“They came at us really hard in the first half up there. It had been a year since we’d seen that kind of pressure,” Winthrop coach Sharon Coulton said. “They won in overtime, so we came back at them. I think we really surprised them when they showed up here today, which was one of our goals.”

Shauna Carlson, Lauren Kaiser and Mary Claire Blanchard give the Ramblers a triple threat on the front line. Jessica Scott and Nikki Burgess played brilliantly at halfback Wednesday in front of goalie Alyssa Arsenault.

It might just take a day or two for those small consolations to sink in.

Winthrop lost out on a chance at a two-goal lead when the officials ruled that a shot from outside the scoring area was knocked in by a Phoenix defender instead of a Ramblers forward.

“I guess we’re going to have to try to take something good from it,” Coulton said. “We have a lot of good things here, but the kids are going to have a hard time looking past the score.”

Still unbeaten

The ranks of the unbeaten thinned a bit over the past week, but, thanks to a stirring comeback at Winthrop, Spruce Mountain is still among those teams, and the only unbeaten squad in Western B.

Perennial Class A powers Skowhegan and Scarborough lead their respective divisions in Class A, while Sanford has joined Scarborough without a loss in Western A.

Eastern B boasts a pair of unbeatens in Nokomis and Belfast, while Dexter remains the only unbeaten team in Class C at 9-0-0.

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