FREEPORT — Defense once again was on display for No. 5 Leavitt in the Class B South field hockey regional final.
The Hornets only allowed two shots and two penalty corners in a 2-0 win over No. 2 Cape Elizabeth on Wednesday to advance to the Class B state championship game Saturday at Cony High School in Augusta.
“At the end of the game, we knew we really wanted it,” Leavitt senior midfielder Eve Martineau said. “We knew we had to push until the end of the game.”
The Hornets have only given up nine goals all season.
Leavitt coach Wanda Ward-MacLean said the Capers (13-3-1) are similar to York, which the Hornets (15-3) defeated on Monday in the regional semifinals.
“They have a lot of quick kids and usually are under control,” Ward-MacLean said.
Cape Elizabeth coach Maura Bisogni said the Hornets were quick too.
“They were beating us to the ball and beating us off the ball too,” Bisogni said.
Bisogni added that if the Capers had 10 more minutes, the momentum was turning their way.
This will be the first state championship game for the Hornets since 2012, when Leavitt defeated Belfast 1-0.
“It’s special, most of the seniors have played since the seventh grade and this was a goal of theirs since back then,” Ward-MacLean said. “So it’s extra special for me to do it because not everyone does.”
Late in the third quarter, on the Hornets’ fourth corner of the game, freshman Maddie Morin battled for the ball in the circle and put Leavitt up 1-0 with 90 seconds remaining in the period. Ava Gagnon had the assist.
Morin worked up her way through the depth chart during the season.
“At the beginning of the season, she was a swing player, from JV to varsity,” Ward-MacLean said. “She kept improving, kept improving, and she just showed she deserved to be out there (on varsity). She just touches the ball a lot in the circle.”
The Hornets had five corners in the game and Cape Elizabeth wanted to limit the Hornets corners.
In the fourth quarter, Cape Elizabeth started to get the ball into the offensive circle, but the Hornets broke up plays before they developed.
With 90 seconds remaining in the game, Martineau received a pass from a corner and blasted it past Cape Elizabeth goalie Zoe Burgard (two saves).
“I was supposed to (pass) it to the right, but I saw the opening and said: ‘I am going for it,’” Martineau said.
Paige DeMascio made one of her two saves in the final seconds of the game.
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