The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Saline lacrosse continues to build
Team will count on its senior starting midfield threesome for spark
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 22, 2007
After a classification reshuffle moved them to Division 1 and head coach John Phillips put together a more challenging 2007 schedule, the Saline lacrosse team might not be able to match last season's gaudy 17-2 record.
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But if not, that won't mean they won't be every bit as good, Phillips said.
"We have 11 seniors this year, a pair of four-year starters, a returning senior starter in goal," Phillips said during practice Monday. "We had a great year and we're very, very experienced."
All that experience has taught the Hornets the value of hustle and toughness, which Phillips said is the team's biggest strength.
"We simply outrun everybody," he said. "We want to get every ground ball. That's a huge part of our game. If you dominate ground balls, you're the one in possession and you're the one who can score."
The Hornets will need all the hard work they can spare against their new Division 1 schedule, which will include new teams like East Lansing, Ann Arbor Huron, Northville and Holt.
But Phillips doesn't expect much of a difference in the competition level between D1 and D2 when it comes to the playoffs, in which the Hornets got past Ypsilanti and Lincoln before being stopped by Detroit Country Day last year.
"Once you get there," he said, "there's not a lot of difference."
To get there, Saline will rely heavily on its senior starting midfield threesome, which returns intact from 2006. Evan O'Reilly, Kelly O'Sullivan and Ben Donahue each started every game last season.
"If you don't have a good midfield, you're not even going to get the ball out of your zone," Phillips said. "But we have three guys who all do a great job for us."
Leading the Saline defense will be senior captain Dan Stevens, whom Phillips said "should have been All-State" in 2006. He will be joined by junior Mike Lahazhow and talented sophomore Brad Crimmons.
In goal will be senior Kevin Borst. Borst became a goalie only last season and has improved rapidly, Phillips said, to the point where he should be one of the team's strengths.
"With that year of experience under his belt, this season he should be a lot better this season," Phillips said.
On the other end of the field, the Hornet attack will be spearheaded by four-year starter Grant Phillips. Phillips was second-team All-State and led Saline with 52 goals and 53 assists last season.
"His biggest asset is his smarts," John Phillips said. "He knows the game and knows how to find those little open spots in the defense that allow him to score."
Phillips will be joined in the attack by junior Scott Harris and senior Ryan Crawford.
Although John Phillips said that his Hornets are "not real deep," a number of players should see major playing time off the bench, including sophomore midfielders Bobby Bianchi and Joe Cosimo, long-stick midfielders Grant Telfer and Brad Perino, penalty-kill specialist Ben Boerema, and promising young defenders Preston Muller, Alex Smith, and Curtis Stevens.
In fact, Phillips says, every player should see playing time in every game.
"I think that's important," he said. "Our kids love to play the game."
Other players on the Hornet roster include seniors Evan Braun, Colin Walters, and Dan Lopez; juniors Shane Jay-Garfein, Nick Schineman, Scott Merk, Kevin Fisher, Kyle Dooley, and Ryan O'Neil; and sophomores Jacob Fosdick and Ryan Luke.
Saline's season opener will be 7 p.m. at home Friday against Grosse Ile.
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