WINSLOW — Even before this game marked the start of the season, it had been a long season for these two teams already.

Neither Lawrence nor Leavitt field hockey can play home games right now, products of work done (or not done) over the summer. That’s made preparing for the season, a tough enough task in its own right, even more of one as the two teams have had to worry over where they’ll get to play.

“It’s getting tiring, and it’s getting frustrating,” said Lawrence head coach Shawna Robinson. “We’ve been practicing on the junior high field in Winslow (this week), and we’re appreciative to them. … It just stinks having to travel and having to haul equipment every single day to come to practice away.”

Yes, frustrations have mounted at both programs, which are playing “home” games elsewhere. In the meantime, the teams have had to make the best of it — and make the best of it they did Thursday as an overtime winner from Ainsley Barry gave Leavitt a 3-2 win.

Although Lawrence dominated possession for much of the first quarter, it was Leavitt (1-0) that took the first lead as Katie Sirois found the cage with 4:31 left in the period following a penalty corner. The Hornets would then own possession themselves for a bit, but with 12 seconds left in the half, Mia Dixon scored for Lawrence to tie it.

Lawrence (0-1) then took the lead with 5:27 left in the third quarter on Dixon’s second goal of the game. Barry scored for Leavitt to tie it 2-2 with 9:04 left in the fourth, and after the Hornets came close on numerous occasions, Barry found the cage with 16 seconds left in the first overtime to win it.

Leavitt’s Emma Beedy and Lawrence’s Addison Battis battle for the ball during a field hockey game Thursday in Winslow. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

“It was a lot of pressure, especially because we almost had, but we just had to keep our composure, stay calm and keep going,” Barry said. “Their goals pushed us down a little bit, obviously, but we regrouped as a team and kept our sidelines positive. … (Scoring the game-winner), it feels amazing.”

Lawrence’s season away from home comes after work done at the field by Sports Fields, a Monmouth-based company, failed to produce a playing surface suitable for the sport. Despite the school district paying more than $6,000, the field is uneven with numerous scattered holes and dirt patches.

That has Lawrence playing its home games at Winslow, Messalonskee, Thomas College and Colby College this season. It comes after what Robinson said is longstanding disrespect of the program on behalf of the school, which she said has never maintained Lawrence’s field to proper standards, and also others in the community.

“(Our girls) have people tell them every day, ‘What’s the big deal? You can just go play somewhere else,”’ Robinson said. “They hear that a lot at their school every day, and it gets frustrating after a while. … (People just say), ‘Just throw them out somewhere; they’ll be fine.’ It doesn’t work like that.”

A similar situation is going on at Leavitt. The Hornets also had work done to their field over the summer, the quality of which left theirs unplayable as well. Head coach Cathy Marston said the school hoped to reassess the field situation next week. The team will play Saturday’s home opener against Cony at Edward Little High School

In the meantime, the two teams have had to try their best to focus on field hockey, and on Thursday, their ability to do so was evident in the quality of play. It took a goal in the dying seconds of overtime to separate the two in a back-and-forth battle of two teams on missions as they deal with frustrations out of their control.

“They have the same bum ride that we do with their field situation, and you could definitely tell they had something to prove today,” Marston said of Lawrence. “It was a tough game, and they really battled us. Our girls had to settle in and dig deep and fight to the end, and they finished.”