All season the Leavitt field hockey team has been preying on teams in the second half. In some cases, the Hornets were trying desperately to claw back after allowing an early goal. In others, clamoring to break a tie.

Either way, the young squad — only one senior starts and only one other is on the roster at all — fought its way to an 11-win regular season.

Now, perhaps a year ahead of schedule given its youth, Leavitt is a perfect 2-0 in the playoffs and bound for the Western Class B regional final after a 1-0 victory over second-seeded Fryeburg Academy in Fryeburg on Saturday.

“They’ve done a good job of really listening and paying attention and making improvements all year,” Leavitt coach Wanda Ward-MacLean said.

The Hornets have traded the role of late-game hero all season. Saturday, it was sophomore midfielder Emma Martineau’s turn.

“We moved it down the right side of the field, the ball got down close to the goal line, they pushed it back out and it bounced off two or three kids and she just flipped it,” Ward-MacLean said.

Martineau elected to flip the ball high past Fryeburg keeper Sage Antolin into the left side of the cage with 6:55 to play in regulation for the game’s lone tally.

Neither team held a distinct advantage in time of possession.

“It kind of swung back and forth,” Ward-MacLean said. “We had some times when we were dominating, and they had time when they were dominating. They had some pressure on us right at the end of the game, when they knew they had to score.”

Part of the problem, Ward-MacLean said, was an unfamiliarity with the Raiders’ field, and an early penchant for watching the play rather than creating it.

“Their field was thick and slow, so the ball wasn’t reaching our kids,” Ward-MacLean said. “We did a lot of standing and reaching for it, instead of moving our feet and going to the ball.”

Leavitt keeper Sierra Santamango turned back nine shots to earn the shutout.

The Hornets (13-3-0) advance to face No. 4 York in the Western B regional final at Scarborough High School on Tuesday. The Wildcats knocked out top-ranked Lake Region in Saturday’s other Western Class B semifinal, also by a 1-0 count. Lake Region’s lone loss prior to Saturday had been to Fryeburg on the final day of the regular season.