AUBURN — A pair of 2-1 losses to Greely and Scarborough early in the season planted a seed of doubt in Edward Little/Leavitt’s mind about whether it could beat a top team in Class A.

A 4-0 win over previously unbeaten Yarmouth/Freeport on Saturday night should remove all doubt that the Red Hornets belong with the elite.

EL/Leavitt jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead and Tori Sanford stopped 15 shots in goal to complete the shutout of the Clippers at Norway Savings Bank Arena.

“I think it set a stepping stone for us that we are a really good team,” junior defenseman Danica Nadeau said.

Four different Red Hornets scored the goals, led by Nadeau and Taylor Landry with a goal and an assist each. Freshmen Abby Roy and Haley Frolich contributed two assists apiece.

“It definitely gives our freshmen a sense of relief. They don’t have to be as nervous as they were,” said Sanford, a junior. “The Greely game they were definitely nervous and a couple of other hard games we played they were really nervous. But this gives them a chance to say ‘OK, this is what we can do. This is what we did. We can do it again.'”

That persistence carried over to the Red Hornets’ forwards, who crashed the net for both of their goals in the first period. Landry poked home the rebound of Nadeau’s shot from the point at 2:54. A little less than 10 minutes later, junior Kristina Latlippe converted on a loose puck in front of the net for her first varsity goal.

“We told the girls you’ve got to be willing to go in there and fight because they’re going to by physical and try to stop you,” Red Hornets coach Shon Collins said.”I thought they did an excellent job seeing the loose pucks and jumping on those rebounds. They were willing to pay the price and get dirty, if you will, up front.”

“They’re a good team,” Clippers coach Jeff Haley said. “We know if they come out running the way they are, it’s going to be an uphill battle. They took advantage of all of their opportunities.”

EL/Leavitt (7-2) held a 28-15 advantage in shots.

Sanford kept the two-goal cushion in the second period with a quick glove after she was screened on a battle in front that popped the puck about head high.

The Clippers (8-1) went on the power play three minutes into the third and had a couple of good chances. Sanford gloved Katie Clemmer’s hard wrist shot from the left point, then made a pad save of Michelle Robichaud’s bid  from nearly the same spot at even strength.

“It was kind of nerve-wracking at a couple of points,” Sanford said. “There were a couple of points in the third period where they were on the line of scoring, and I think my positioning put me at a point where they should have scored but they didn’t.”

“She had a lot of good saves, was controlling her rebounds or kicking them out to not give them a lot of second opportunities,” Collins said. “I thought the defense were really solid. Haley Frohlich just came out flying on the penalty kill. She moved her feet and that gave a bit of a spark.”

The Red Hornets used that spark to double their lead in the final five minutes. Mariah Vaillancourt saw an opening to the left of Clippers goalie Hannah Williams (24 saves) and flicked a loose puck over her shoulder from the right circle for a 3-0 lead.

Nadeau followed with perhaps the prettiest goal of the night, squeezing through a wall of defenders in the neutral zone to break free at the blue line, set up Williams with a deke to the left and score on the backhand.

“I thought the ‘D’ was going to stop me but I just skated right through,” Nadeau said. “(Williams) went down early so I had that opening.”