Take Belfast’s most recent matchup with KVAC rival Leavitt Area High School on Saturday. The Lions held a decided edge in shot attempts, shots on cage and all-important penalty corners.

But the team that had averaged nearly five goals per game this season while posting six shutouts in nine games couldn’t solve the Hornets’ defense, nor junior keeper Hailey DeMascio, who flashed the pads on several occasions to keep the game scoreless through the first half and beyond.

“They’re always a tough team, we knew that coming in,” Belfast coach Jan Holmes-Jackson said. “We really work hard to get our passing game going, and our communication. That’s what I really try to get across to the girls, and I feel that’s what’s kept us successful.”

Finally for the visiting Lions, on the team’s 13th penalty corner of the game, Lindsay Bruns redirected a pass from Kylie Nelson past DeMascio on a set play to snap the team’s scoring drought and help lift Belfast to a 1-0 win over Leavitt.

“We go it down on the line with the stroke, and (Nelson) crossed it, and I just saw the opportunity,” Bruns said.

“It was nice to have the corner finally work,” Holmes-Jackson said. “When it can go like that, it’s great for us.”

“They’re a good team, they’re aggressive and fast,” Leavitt coach Wanda Ward-MacLean said. “I thought we played hard and I thought we played right with them overall.

“They came in undefeated and we knew they would be a tough team, they’re always a tough team, whether it was Allen (Holmes) coaching them, or now his daughter, Jan. They’re always solid with fundamentals.”

Solid fundamentals only went so far in the first half against DeMascio, who turned back five shots and stared down nine penalty corners before the break.

“It was a very defensive game for us, we played most of the game on defense,” DeMascio said.

Her best effort in the opening half came in its waning minutes, when she sent a kick save away from the goal with a deep lunge to her left.

Leavitt pressured again to begin the second frame, but Belfast quickly adjusted and again started hovering around the Hornets’ circle. DeMascio again flashed the pads on consecutive shots, kicking sure goals away from the corners.

“I like to track the ball and mimic where the ball is in the circle at all times,” DeMascio said. “It helps make sure I’m there for the stop.”

“She played very well today, she made a few really, really good saves, nice lunges out and deflecting the ball wide,” Ward-MacLean said. “Any shots they had, she was right there. She made some good calls, calling other girls off and she played the ball.

“The confidence has just grown in her. Even if she’s not having a great day for her, she’s still confident and she gives her teammates that feeling of, ‘Yeah, we have a great goalie back there.'”

There wasn’t much DeMascio could do on the only ball to beat her Saturday. The Lions executed a penalty corner to near perfection, relaying the insert from the top of the circle to the stroke line and across the goalmouth with precision.

“We knew that we needed to score first,” Holmes-Jackson said. “We needed to.”

Leavitt, which itself has scored 42 goals this season, fought back, trying to avoid its first shutout of the season, but couldn’t sustain enough pressure against the Belfast defense and keeper Brooke Richards.

“We have really good ‘D,’ and that was a big part of the win today,” Bruns said. “That’s a big win for us. We really just had to dig deep and find it in us to pull out the win.”

“We’re working hard to stay at home for the playoffs,” Holmes-Jackson said. “The past couple years, we’ve been on the road, so that’s really in the back of our minds.”

The Lions stay in Class B North for the playoffs. Leavitt, now 7-4, is in Class B South and on the brink of a home-field quarterfinal with three games remaining. The Hornets sit in fifth position, with rival Spruce Mountain — the two teams meet next week — in fourth.

“We had some opportunities there and we just didn’t finish,” Ward-MacLean said. “We had one where we just swatted at it, and we had one where we had the corner set up perfectly. The only time we ran that play, and we didn’t field the ball. We played well, I thought, just didn’t finish.”