The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Saline cruises to 6-0
Three wins by combined 42 goals keeps Hornets perfect
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 26, 2007
The way the Saline lacrosse team is playing, it might be anybody's guess when the Hornets will suffer their first loss.
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But it didn't happen in three contests last week, as Saline defeated Howell 19-6, Holt 12-1, and Romulus 18-1. The Hornets are now 6-0, with an average margin of victory in those six victories of 15.3 goals.
"As well as we have played," said head coach John Phillips, "I don't think there's anyone on our schedule we won't feel at least a little confident going up against."
While the difficulty of Saline's schedule-to-date (with games against inexperienced teams like Ypsilanti and Romulus) is a factor in the ease with which the Hornets' have remained undefeated, Phillips said the bigger factor is that his team is playing at a higher level than at any other point in the program's brief history.
"I would say this is the most complete game we've ever played," he said after the win over Holt last Friday evening in Saline. "Offense, defense, our midfield lines were excellent ... This was a quality team we played tonight."
The Hornets asserted themselves in the Holt win from the opening face-off. Only 32 seconds into the first quarter, junior Scott Harris scored for a 1-0 lead. That goal was followed by two more from Grant Phillips within the next 90 seconds.
Harris added his second five minutes later for a 4-0 lead. The Hornets would score just once more in the first half, through Phillips with 34 seconds to play in the second quarter, but a lockdown defensive effort led by senior Dan Stevens kept the visiting Rams scoreless into the third.
"We were playing zone, double-teaming some of their guys, and we were able to keep them outside," Stevens said. "We want them to shoot from outside and lower their scoring opportunities."
Holt finally got on the board with 10:23 left in the third quarter, but two more goals from Harris and one each from Kelly O'Sullivan, Evan Braun and Matt Dysko stretched the lead to 10-1 at the end of the period and put the game out of reach.
O'Sullivan and Bob Bianchi each added a goal in the fourth for the final margin. O'Sullivan and Phillips each notched three assists and Harris two. Goalie Kevin Borst finished with six saves.
The Hornets took control early again against Romulus and cruised to the 17-goal win. Shane Jay-Garfein led the Hornets with four goals. Braun, Bianchi and Evan O'Reilly each added two, while Jacob Fosdick, Ben Donahue, Scott Merk, and Nick Schineman each scored one.
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