TURNER — One by one, Maranacook girls’ soccer players took their turns embracing goalkeeper Elizabeth D’Angelo as she walked off Libby Field between overtime periods Tuesday night.

D’Angelo returned the love with a good-natured jab: “Never do that again!”

Only four days earlier, the junior goalie scratched, clawed, but couldn’t stop an overtime penalty kick at Winslow. This time, after a takedown by the Black Bears’ defense inside the 18-yard line, D’Angelo denied Tatiana Sierra’s uncontested offering to preserve a 0-0 KVAC tie with Leavitt.

It wasn’t the Hornets’ first penalty kick against D’Angelo, either. Leavitt planted the previous one back on Sept. 6 to earn a 1-1 deadlock in the season opener.

“I think that might have got into our head too,” Leavitt coach Chris Cifelli said. “We started thinking, ‘Which way did we go last time?’ They kind of came off the field a little bummed out, but I look at it as we played well in all facets of the game and couldn’t quite poke one in.”

The stalemate kept both teams in the heart of their respective playoff races. Leavitt (3-6-2), which entered the night No. 8 in Western Class B, halted a three-game winless skid. Maranacook (4-4-3) is No. 6 in Western C.

D’Angelo made three of her 13 saves in the two five-minute overtime periods. In addition to Sierra’s bid, she snuffed out Amanda Poulin’s direct kick from 20 yards with a sliding kick save in the final 40 seconds of the first session.

Leavitt sophomore Angela Daigle stopped a dozen shots, all in regulation.

“It was a good game. Both teams played well,” Maranacook coach Mike Morin said. “We’re looking to win all our games, but ties are good for us. We play a very defensive game of soccer. Our games are 1-0 games. We don’t score a lot of goals.”

Sierra’s shot at the game-winner came with 2:45 left in the first OT after a push from behind took away sophomore Liliana Cousineau’s potential one-on-one bid against D’Angelo.

The Hornets’ young strikers, Cousineau and freshman Shannon O’Malley, created more havoc as the game wore on. D’Angelo received defensive help from Katelyn MacGregor, Natalie Wicks and Catherine Sanborn.

“Throughout the whole game their goalie’s length altered a lot of shots,” Cifelli said. “We had two or three chances and we pulled them wide trying to avoid her. And she made saves too. She was the difference-maker I think for them.”

Maranacook enjoyed a 12-6 edge in shots on goal before intermission, but the Hornets forced the Black Bears to unleash most of those from the perimeter.

Miranda Coombs and Taylor Benson cleared the ball out of harm’s way multiple times for Leavitt.

“What I’m happy about is we had a really tough week last week, and the girls rebounded playing against a good team,” Cifelli said. “We generated chances but also held them off the scoreboard too. Taking a shutout is huge.”

koakes@sunjournal.com