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TURNER — Leavitt and Poland played two halves and two overtime periods without scoring a goal, and their Class B South girls soccer matchup Thursday ended in a 0-0 draw.

Although the Knights (4-4-1) would have preferred to take a win with them on the bus ride home, coach Juan Bustamante said the close game wasn’t surprising.

“I told the girls ‘One play is going to make a difference in this game, and hopefully it’s us putting the ball in the back of the net,’” Bustamante said. “I don’t think either team had great opportunities. I think both teams played pretty high defense and couldn’t figure out how to get a solid shot on goals.”

Hornets (3-5-1) coach Chris Cifelli said Leavitt also entered Thursday’s matchup expecting a hard-fought game.

“This was not a game that we really could just say that we were going to work some stuff out,” Cifelli said. “We were going to have to actually come and play, and that was obviously evident in that pretty back-and-forth game.”

Both Cifelli and Bustamante said that neither team seized control in either half or overtime period, but Bustamante noted that there were flashes of strength for Poland near the end of the game.

“I think after the first overtime, we were feeling pretty confident, because we were putting that pressure on them,” Bustamante said. “Once you get confidence like that, I think your whole mentality changes. When you’re sitting back on your heels and they’re putting pressure on, then you really got to try to get them motivated.”

Cifelli said he wished the Hornets were able to capitalize on their scoring chances, especially after putting eight shots on goal. He said Leavitt and Poland are similar teams in terms of strategy and skill, so games often “boil down to who takes advantage of the few opportunities.”

But each opportunity was shut down by the opposing defense or the opposing goalkeeper. Leavitt’s Hailey Welch finished with eight saves, while Olivia Rioux stopped 12 shots for Poland.

Welch is a freshman, and Cifelli said the fast track from middle school to varsity has been an adjustment for her. He added that the Hornets defense has done well at forcing opposing forwards to take shots from savable angles.

“The thing that is tough for her is that she’s a ninth grader and learning on a job,” Cifelli said. “The true progression is getting a couple of years down on JV, and then being able to work your way through. She’s done really good at being positive, learning from the things that are mistakes. She made a couple of big saves today, especially on that direct kick from (Phoebe) Paradis — that kind of energized us.”

Welch said Poland’s shots were hard to stop Thursday because they were all over the goal — some forced her to reach high while others required her to dive. The save on Paradis’ shot was her highlight, she said, because she was still able to make the save even while proactively jumping for the ball and putting herself out of position.

Rioux said Leavitt’s shot placement also proved challenging.

“A lot of times, they went to the corners, or it was just deflections, so you don’t really know where it goes,” Rioux said. “There was one of them that deflected off and barely hit the post, so you never really know where it’s going to go.”

Bustamante said Poland’s other standouts were Olivia Austin, Paradis and Graceyn Camire.

He said Austin, a middle halfback, controlled and distributed the ball well. Paradis began the game in the backfield but was moved to the front and became a dynamic forward fighting for multiple balls in the midfield, while Camire was “fantastic” on the wing.

“Everybody really played great roles today,” Bustamante said. “I tell them, when you get your chance, get in there play and see how that goes.”

Leavitt’s strength, Cifelli said, was the defense, especially after he switched multiple players positions during the game.

He added that he was happy with how the Hornets bounced back from Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to Erskine. Both coaches expressed pride in their teams for continuing to play hard through two full halves and to overtimes.

Cifelli was particularly proud of Leavitt’s midfielders.

“I’d give a lot of credit to the three kids in the midfield for us — Michaela Harrington, Brooke Boutaugh and Heather Mousseau — they played a lot of minutes, and it was back and forth,” Cifelli said. “It’s constantly changing offense to defense, so it was not only a lot of physicality, but there were a lot of mental parts to it.”