The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Saline defends home pool
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 29, 2007
With two games against district opponents in the first week of the season, Saline girls' water polo head coach Brad Silverman knew his team would have to come out of the gates prepared.
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Apparently, his team knew it as well.
The Hornets survived a tense 11-10 home match with Grand Blanc in midweek, went 3-1 over the weekend at a tournament in Grand Haven, then returned home for a 9-4 whipping of Birmingham Groves last Monday.
"I'm really happy with the way we've been playing," Silverman said after the Groves win. "They're playing faster and being more aggressive ... they've stepped up."
The wins over Grand Blanc and Groves move Saline to 2-0 in district play, with a 5-1 record overall.
None of the five victories were as hard-fought as the season-opener over Grand Blanc. The Hornets took an early three-goal lead only to fall behind 5-4 at the end of a wild first quarter, then surged back in front 10-8 in the fourth.
The visitors trimmed the lead to one, but Saline's Laura Kuzma responded with her fourth goal of the game to restore the two-goal lead. Again Grand Blanc cut the lead to one, but Hornet senior goalie Sammy Haller made her 15th save just as the buzzer sounded to seal the 11-10 win.
Kuzma's four goals were joined by two each from Anne Marie Giardina, Emily Vizza and Ashley Mulder, and one from Alyssa Hart.
"It was the perfect way to start the season," Silverman said. "The difference between being on an OK team and a good team, or a good team and a really good team, is the ability to win close games. I liked what they showed me in that game."
The Grand Haven tournament started with a setback for Saline as a pair of Mulder goals were the only offense in a 10-2 loss to Jenison Friday night.
But after a post-match team meeting in which Silverman said the team dedicated itself to "not backing down," the Hornets roared back with three wins on Saturday. First was a 7-4 defeat of West Ottawa, followed by a comfortable 9-2 victory over Portage Northern and then a 7-2 win over Portage Central.
Mulder totaled eight goals in the three wins, followed closely by Lindsey DeHaan with seven. Kuzma added four.
Buoyed by their performance in Grand Haven, the Hornets dominated visiting Groves from the opening whistle in Monday night's match. DeHaan opened the scoring with 3:19 to play in the first quarter and Mulder followed with four consecutive goals, giving Saline a commanding 5-0 lead with 3:27 to play in the first half.
Mulder would go on to add two more to her total after goals from Kuzma and Giardina for the 9-4 victory.
With Mulder's offense, the two-meter defense of Kerch and the goalkeeping of Haller, Silverman said the Hornets are playing every bit as well as he'd hoped.
"The biggest problem we had last year was backing down," he said, "and after the Jenison game, that definitely was not a problem."
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