The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Hornets thinking big and bigger in 2007
Saline will open season with ususal tough schedule
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 22, 2007
In 2006, the Saline girls' soccer team advanced to its first state quarterfinal.
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In 2007, the Hornets and coach Dave Tapping believe the potential is there for even more than that.
"We have the players to do that," Tapping said after the Hornets saw their first live game action in their annual scrimmage tournament, which was held last Saturday in Saline.
"Anything can happen … we've won the SEC nine years in a row and districts the last three years, and we want to keep building on that."
To that end, Tapping has put together the Hornets' usual challenging non-league schedule, with games on tap against state-ranked Livonia-Stevenson, Troy Athens and Northville, the team that eliminated Saline in last season's regional final.
"It's a very difficult schedule," Tapping said. "We need to win some of those non-conference games."
Judging by the Hornets' performance Saturday in their one-hour scrimmages against Fraser, Jackson Lumen Christi and Regina Harper Woods, the Saline defense will be up to the task. Marshaled by senior starting goalkeeper Mackenzie Gilmore, Saline did not give up a goal from the run of play, allowing only a single penalty kick goal.
Junior and Monica Mezger and sophomore Angie Hollis each had strong performances in defense and, along with sophomore Claire Phillips, should help anchor a formidable Hornet back line.
"They were all very solid for us today," Tapping said.
The Hornets had less success going forward, as the home team went without a goal in their scrimmages. But Tapping wasn't worried.
"We had a lot of rotation, a lot of players playing different positions," Tapping said. "And it's a scrimmage."
Once the season officially begins, second-team All-State junior forward Stephanie Burke will be counted to spearhead the Hornet attack, along with senior Chrissy Gentile and a host of other talented forwards.
Saturday was a kind of coming-out party for freshman Autumn Jacobs and sophomore midfielder Meredith Faas in the Saline central midfield. With other players, like junior Andrea Sulavik and outside midfielder junior Katelyn Welzbacker, available, Tapping has a number of options in putting together the midfield engine in the Hornets' preferred 3-5-2 formation.
"We're deeper than we've ever been at the varsity level," he said. "We have a lot of experience and a lot of strong leaders on this team."
Much of that leadership and experience is in place despite the loss of seven seniors from 2006, including key forward Anja Burk. But the Hornets return six seniors this season, including Gilmore, who has committed to play varsity soccer for Ohio State, forwards Gentile and Lauren Zahn, midfielders Megan Shima and Megan Ward, and defender Kelly Trancygier.
Saline also will benefit from a whopping 11 juniors on the roster, led by players like Burke, Mezger, Sulavik, and Welzbacker, and including forwards Jena Cooper, Katrina Hollis and Dana Baker, midfielders Kacy Hartman, Kellie Stepaniak and Megan Johnson, and defender Kate Tolbert.
Sophomores Angie Hollis, Faas, Phillips, and midfielder Lauren Birdsong, and lone freshman Jacobs round out the roster.
As much depth, experience, and young talent as Saline boasts, the key to the season will be how well the team comes together to play as one unit, Tapping said.
To that end, the team has adopted the theme of "Being 11" for the 2007 season, complete with shirts that all have the number 11 on the back. It represents the spirit, Tapping said, of all 11 players on the field working as one.
"That's really something on," Tapping said. "We support each other, look after each other … we have to be a team."
Saline's regular season begins at 7 p.m. Monday against Stevenson in Saline.
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