Or maybe all the credit goes to young, fearless Maranacook for being eager to break a sweat, but Leavitt didn’t look like itself in the first half of Tuesday’s KVAC field hockey game.

“We’re usually a second-half team. Today we weren’t expecting them to be as strong as they were,” Leavitt senior Ashley Mathieu said. “We were kind of slow-paced. Then the second half we realized we needed to pick it up.”

Mathieu scored both her goals in a 13-minute span after intermission. Kaitlyn Leclerc set up one of those and also scored two of her own in the first half, awakening the Hornets to an 8-0 victory.

Allie Belaire, Sam Harden, Kierstin Leclerc and Molly McCormick each scored for Leavitt (2-0), which travels Thursday to Pittsfield for a South vs. North Class B showdown against Maine Central Institute.

“We were just slow, thinking that we were going to take the win easily. It was a little bit harder than we thought it would be, so we had to get over that,” Kaitlyn Leclerc said. “I would definitely give (Maranacook) credit for that, because they did well holding us to one goal.”

Leclerc’s early goal after Leavitt flailed at three consecutive rebounds off Maranacook freshman goalie Kaitlyn Mason’s pads was the extent of the early offense.

Although they never put an official shot on goal, the Black Bears (1-2) controlled the action for a while thanks to a flurry of four penalty corners.

“They played aggressive. They always do,” Leavitt coach Wanda Ward-MacLean said. “It was very slow to get going. I know it was hot and everything. You tell the kids, tell the kids, tell the kids, but they’ve got to get out there and actually play.”

The instructions and the conservation of energy during a mandated water break with five minutes to go in the half seemed to do the trick.

Leavitt pushed the tempo and scored immediately, with Belaire breaking free for a one-on-one confrontation with Mason.

Leclerc’s second goal of the half was a laser to the left side of the cage with 1:29 left.

“We normally communicate and work well as a team, looking for the passes. We struggled a little bit with that in the first half,” Leclerc said.

The floodgates opened thereafter, but it was still an encouraging effort for Maranacook, whose first two games were a 14-0 loss to Mt. View and an 8-0 win over Lincoln.

“I have eight girls that have never played the sport before, so the fact that we’re out here playing at a varsity level is great. They play hard, start to finish. Every day we’re out here learning skills on the job,” Maranacook coach Jeannine Paradis said. “When you’re playing in 90-degree heat and humidity, it’s still tough, no matter how you try and rotate kids through.”

Maranacook started the game with five substitutes, its most so far this season, and lost one to a hand injury in the second half.

Leavitt’s onslaught continued, most notably a pretty tip-in by Mathieu and a penalty stroke off the stick of Kierstin Leclerc.

“We passed much better in the second half. Much, much better. That was the difference,” Ward-MacLean said. “And they got tired, obviously. A lot of the rebounds off the goalie, we went and got it.”

“We worked a lot this year on our conditioning,” Mathieu added. “That was something we needed.”

Maranacok tri-captain Kianna Pushard made a stick save to deny a Leavitt goal in the first half.

Paradis said that 23 girls attended tryouts for Maranacook’s middle school team this summer, suggesting that help is on the way.

“We’re going to take our lumps, but we’re going to get up and continue to fight the next day, and we’ll be OK,” she said. “Every day they’re going to get better. I’d rather coach these kids than a seasoned team any day. They’re a lot of fun. It changes my philosophy from the past, no matter what sport I’m coaching, but it gives me the chance to teach.”

koakes@sunjournal.com

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