TURNER — The Leavitt field hockey team continued its spotless start to the season by scoring on three corners and beating Gardiner 3-1 on Saturday in a matchup of Class B North contenders.

“It’s surreal, I’m so happy for these girls,” Hornets coach Cathy Marston said. “These girls are the real deal, they have the drive, they have the compassion for one another, they have the intensity and I couldn’t be any more proud. I’m just blessed to be a part of this program.”

Going into Saturday’s game, Leavitt senior Maddie Morin said the Hornets expected a tough match, which featured two high-scoring teams with numerous wins under their belts. Over last week’s series of practices, Morin said Marston worked on mindset training with the team, as well as the power of working hard and finishing on opportunities when they’re created, especially corners.

“We’ve been really working hard offensively on our corners and finishing when we get the advantage,” Marston said.

Ainsley Barry was first to score for Leavitt (8-0) halfway through the first quarter, off an assist from Katie Sirois.

“So, we had Katie, she slammed it in, and it was right behind the goalie’s pads,” Barry said. “No one could really see it, but I saw the edge of it, so I just swooped it in.”

Barry said the first goal and the subsequent win “felt amazing.” Going into the game, Leavitt team was up against a high-scoring Tigers (7-2) offense that generated nine corners Saturday.

The next Leavitt goal was scored by Jada Beedy, again off a corner, this time assisted by Olivia Miller.

“My goal, Liv (Miller) kind of dribbled it up, she shot it from the side and I tipped it from the stroke,” Beedy said. “It went right between the goalie’s pads.”

Gardiner’s Brynnlea Chaisson fired back by scoring the Tigers’ lone goal with four minutes remaining in the first half. Although Chaisson’s goal was also off a corner, Gardiner coach Jess Merrill said finishing with goals on corners has been a point of weakness for the team lately.

“Since the Belfast game, our mindset hasn’t been where it needs to be, and it just showed again today,” Merrill said. “They’ve had spurts where they’ve had great passing down the field and it’s just finishing. We had 1,000 corners I think today, but just being able to finish, that is probably our point of weakness right now.”

Merrill added that the team has been plagued by sickness, with three players currently out sick with COVID-19. A key starter, Macy Hickey, came off the field with an injury Saturday.

“Now we have to figure out what we’re going to do, we’ve probably lost Macy, one of our better players, and we keep losing girls,” Merrill said. “Just trying to fill that spot, it’s a very big spot. She’s on offense, defensive coordinates, and very big on the line. So, we will have to do some regrouping, but we have to have girls step up.”

Merrill added that only been 14 to 15 players have suited up for practice at times, and her roster is on the smaller side with 19 players. This, she said, makes it hard to emulate game-like play in practice, which only further hurts the Tigers against strong teams like Leavitt.

Leavitt players mob Ainsley Barry, left, after she scored the first goal of the game Saturday morning against Gardiner. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

The Hornets capped the scoring when senior Maddie Morin snuck another ball into the goal on a corner, assisted by Addison Twitchell.

“We locked right in for one of our corners, and Addie (Twitchell) just had a nice hit right down to the baseline and got it and we snuck it right in the corner,” Morin said.

Defensively, Leavitt shut down three Gardiner straight corners  in the second quarter, which Marston credited to freshman Brylee Emmons. Marston said Emmons does a “pretty good job for flying,” and with a couple of tweaks and some fine-tuning throughout the season, Emmons will be a key defensive player for Leavitt for her next three years on the field.

The Hornets’ fan section swarmed the sideline and erupted after every goal, which only added to Saturday’s excitement, Beedy said.

“We always work off everyone, and I think having everyone here really helped us to bring our best,” Beedy said. “Coach always says we’re a family and we truly believe that.”