TURNER — When a pair of top teams in any conference clash, there’s little surprise when a regular-season contest ends in a draw.

It just usually takes a bit longer to get there.

Unbeaten Belfast and perennial KVAC Class B power Leavitt sloshed through one 30-minute half of field hockey Saturday during the Hornets’ homecoming festivities, with each side striking for a goal before sloppy weather and unsafe footing forced officials to cut the contest short. The result: Both teams earned valuable Heal Points for their respective playoff pushes in a 1-1 deadlock.

“It would have been nice to see how it played out of a full game, but this was still a good game for us,” Leavitt coach Wanda Ward-McLean said.

Leavitt’s sense of urgency was perhaps a bit greater, given three earlier losses. But as is usually the case, the Lions and Hornets matched up evenly from the beginning, despite most of the players struggling with their footing.

“We’re definitely improving, and the tie is good,” Leavitt goalie Taylor Eells said. “We wanted better, but we’ll take what we can in 30 minutes.”

One of the sources all season for Leavitt’s confidence has been Eells’ steady play, and she did nothing to disappoint her teammates or the larger-than-usual homecoming crowd packing the sidelines.

The high point for Eels came with 11:14 to play in what was then thought to be the opening half. On one of four major flurries of activity in front of Eells, the Hornets’ keeper tried to maintain a wall of pads between the ball and her cage. In the process, the ball became wedged under one of her pads, and officials awarded the Lions a penalty stroke.

“I didn’t really understand it,” Eells said. “But once they call it, you just do what you can.”

Eells lunged to her right and whacked Kari Osgood’s offering away with one of her gloves, at the time preserving a one-goal Leavitt advantage.

“I try my hardest not to read the shot ahead of time, because a lot of good shooters will fake you out,” Eells said. “I honestly don’t remember what I was thinking, it was all reaction.”

“Taylor does a great job on strokes,” Ward-McLean said. “She’s stopped some really key strokes over the last couple of years. It’s amazing.”

The Hornets were on top early, thanks to a push that appeared to surprise Belfast, which had trailed only once through 10 games to that point. Less than seven minutes into the contest, Cheryl Fichter sent the ball across the circle to Adrianna Newton. Newton then tipped the ball to the right post, where Casey Fichter redirected it into the cage for a quick 1-0 Leavitt advantage.

“I think they were a little bit shocked at our ability,” Ward-McLean said. “We came out hard and aggressive and took it right to them.

“We were fiddlin’ and diddlin’ with it down here, and you can’t do that against a good team,” Belfast coach Allen Holmes said. “We gave them an opportunity, and they took advantage of it.”

As Eells and the rest of the Hornets expected, the goal appeared to awaken Belfast.

“We knew right off, as soon as we scored, they were coming back out as hard as they could,” Eells said.

“We haven’t been behind too many times this year, just once,” Holmes said. “We’ve got that ability to get back in the fight, and we did, we got a corner 40 seconds later, had three or four shots and their goalie is very good.”

Eells stuffed all comers until late in the half. On another goalmouth scramble made more confusing by the sloppy conditions, Britt Mellor launched a ball toward the cage from about 20 feet out. The ball appeared to redirect off of a player and into the top left corner of the cage, but officials signaled the goal was good, knotting the score.

“It went off a kid’s knee, but, officials call what they call,” Ward-McLean said.

Leavitt and Belfast will not meet again this season unless the teams each make it through to the state final.