AUBURN – Isaiah Davis and his Leavitt Hornets certainly can relate to how Dave Morin and his Red Eddies felt Tuesday.

The Edward Little boys’ soccer team struggled to bounce back after an emotional win over Lewiston Saturday. Davis and his Hornets did the exact same thing earlier in the season. This time, it worked in the Hornets favor in a 2-1 victory over EL.

Leavitt came out flat against EL in its first meeting and lost 4-1. It was one of the Hornets’ worst performances of the year.

“We weren’t ready,” said Davis. “We were really happy about beating Lewiston, and we came out flat, and they were ready to play. Of course, today, they’re coming off beating Lewiston. So it might have helped us the other way.”

Ben Parkin scored in the first half, and Matt Paladino made it 2-0 late in the second. The Hornets (3-4) held off a late EL (4-3-1) charge to earn the win.

“I’ve been coaching long enough to see it coming,” said Morin of his team’s letdown. “You can’t depend upon outplaying a team in the last five minutes and getting a call to go your way.

“Emotionally, we’re still a young team. We grew up against Lewiston, but we were back to being adolescents today.”

Parkin made it 1-0 at 9:51 by finishing off a Jacob Mailloux cross for his second of the year. Parkin was left alone at the left post and connected with Mailloux’s pass from the right side.

“We pretty much lost the game in the first half,” said Morin. “We were lethargic. We let them get the ball. We let them get the momentum. We left a guy unmarked on the back post.”

EL had momentum late in the half and created chances but couldn’t connect. The Red Eddies, which scored five goals in its last two outings, outshot Leavitt 7-3 in the second half, but had to move goaltender Josh Mains to striker to spark the offense. EL’s best chance was a shot by Ethan Grund that Leavitt keeper Kevin Mulherin dove to stop with 13:27 remaining.

Leavitt made it 2-0 with 5:16 left on Paladino’s first of the year. He redirected a Kenny Maher pass in front.

“Early in the year, our offense was really struggling,” said Davis, who was minus three regulars to injury and then lost Stephen Rouillard to a knee injury. “People were trying to beat defenders one-on-one, but the last couple of games, we’ve really come together. We scored five goals against Oxford Hills. We’ve had 11 goals this year from seven different guys. That’s when they finally figured out that if we spread it out and pass and get opportunities, anybody can finish.”

A Lutz flip throw found its way into the net with 3:43 left but was waived off because it wasn’t touched. EL did score with 3:05 left when Billy Brewster headed in a Lutz pass at the right post.

Lutz then nearly tied it with 2:07 left, but his open shot at the left side went over the net.