The Hornets had 12 penalty corners, but had nothing to show for it in a 2-0 loss to the Witches. It was Leavitt’s first home loss since its home opener on Sept. 5.

The visiting Witches (6-4) had fewer than half the chances, but produced two goals, both off the stick of Keanna Beal in the second half. Beal broke the scoreless tie with 13:51 remaining and added an insurance marker with 8:18 left.

“We work on that a lot in practice,” Brewer coach Sarah Estes said. “We have a solid corner unit and the opportunities were there. They outnumbered us in corners, but we were just able to deliver.”

Leavitt (6-3-1) dominated play in the first half, with the ball rarely crossing over the center line. The Witches won the first penalty corner of the contest, but surrendered the final six of the half. Yet, at halftime, the Hornets had just two shots on goal to show for it in a scoreless game. 

“Not our best,” Leavitt coach Wanda Ward-MacLean said. “Definitely not our best. Some people played very well, but as a team we’ve played better. Each time we haven’t played well as a team, we’ve lost.”

The Witches nearly broke the tie four minutes into the second half when Cassy Green fired a shot on net that forced Leavitt goalkeeper Ashley Kelley to make a kick save with the right pad. 

Brewer yielded the first four penalty corners in the second half before winning the next four. The Witches found the back of the cage on their second and fourth opportunities. 

Beal collected a loose ball in front of the cage after it was tipped into the circle off a Leavitt stick to produce the first goal of the contest. In heavy traffic, Beal squeezed a shot past Kelley to break the scoreless tie. 

“We started off rough, but we came around,” Beal said. “We stepped up and we did what we were supposed to do.”

Beal struck again five minutes later when she knocked in a shot from the left post off a cross-post feed from Hannah Spencer-Cross to make it 2-0 with less than 10 minutes remaining. 

“We traveled this far and we didn’t want them to let down,” Estes said. “We’ve been in this situation a lot. We’ve had some heartbreaking losses and I said ‘This is your chance to redeem yourself for those games’ and they were able to step up to the plate today.” 

Three of Brewer’s four losses have been by a single goal. 

The Witches outshot the Hornets 4-3 in the second half after failing to record a shot on goal in the first half. 

“We knew we were playing all right and we just needed to finish on the offensive end and we weren’t,” Ward-MacLean said. “We talked about it at halftime and then we came out passive in the second half and Brewer came out and played very well in the second half.”

Brooke Richards finished with five saves for the Witches, while Kelley stopped two. 

mkraft@sunjournal.com