A 14-year-old girl from Springfield died Sunday afternoon when she was hit by a bolt of lightning during a youth soccer game in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Sarah Elizabeth McLain, who was going to be an eighth-grader at Mount Jefferson Junior High School in Lee this fall, died at a field near Nashwaaksis High School in Fredericton at 1:55 p.m. EDT.

The lightning directly hit the girl, according to her great-grandmother, Marion Edwards of Lincoln. Emergency medical technicians tried to revive McLain, Edwards added. McLain was taken to Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton, where she was pronounced dead, according to a Fredericton police report.

A total of 24 people, including McLain, were taken to Chalmers Hospital, police said. As of 8:50 p.m. EDT three people were still in the hospital, including a 16-year-old officiating linesman who was knocked unconscious.

One other girl on the team was still in the hospital as of early Sunday evening as a precaution, according to the mother of one of the Maine girls who was at the game.

The mother, who asked not to be identified, said the lightning came out of nowhere after a period of drizzle ended and the sun came out. There were some dark clouds in the distance but no indication of any lightning whatsoever, she added.

McLain was playing with a group of 11 other girls, all from the Lee area, during the second half of a game that was to decide first place in an annual tournament sponsored by the Fredericton District Soccer Association.

Doug Coffin of the association told the Fredericton Daily Gleaner it is up to the on-field officials to decide if playing conditions are too dangerous, but that didn’t appear to be the case Sunday afternoon.

“Our concern is always the safety of the children and we had officials in place to make sure that happens,” Coffin said.

Ron LeBlanc, a resident of Dieppe, New Brunswick, whose daughter was playing on an adjacent field, told the Daily Gleaner the lightning strike was “a freak of nature.”

“It was just thunder and lightning at the same time with no warning whatsoever,” LeBlanc said. “It was just like ‘boom’ instantaneous. It felt like a bomb.”

Environment Canada spokesman Roch Rivard told the Daily Gleaner the lightning strike came from an isolated thunderstorm.

“It’s just a typical time [of the year] when you have warm temperatures and a bit of humidity in the air,” he said. “It was very typical and it was very, very isolated and quite small.”

Mount Jefferson principal Kathy McAvoy said there will likely be grief counseling available Monday. Community members can call the superintendent’s office at 738-2665 for more information.

“A very good student and a great all-around kid,” said McAvoy, who learned of McLain’s death early Sunday evening. “I’m definitely saddened by this. All of us are.”

This is the fourth year the Mount Jefferson group has gone to the Fredericton tournament. The team is an informal group of girls not affiliated with a recreation department.

McLain was the daughter of Catherine Doane of Springfield and Donald McLain of Dixmont.

Funeral arrangements are with Clay Funeral Homes but details were not available Sunday evening.