The Saline Reporter
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Saline bounces back against Dreads, 3-2
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: May 1, 2008
The Saline girls' soccer team lost their first game of the season Saturday. But their first losing streak might still be a long ways off.
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The Hornets responded to their 1-0 defeat on the road at No. 1 Northville by scoring three goals in the first half and holding off a late Dexter rally to down the Dreadnaughts 3-2 on the road.
"The girls were ready, and we came out and dominated the first half," said a pleased Dave Tapping, the Hornet head coach. "Dexter's a good team and this is an old rivalry for us. We wanted this one."
The Hornets were on the front foot from the beginning, looking for forwards Emilee Kaminski and Katrina Hollis with long balls out of midfield and defense. The strategy paid dividends 17 minutes into the game when defender Claire Phillips found Hollis on the right side of the Dexter penalty area. Hollis turned her defender and shot low into the far corner from 16 yards for a 1-0 Hornet lead.
Although Dexter threatened on a handful of free kicks, Saline would continue to apply pressure on the Dexter defense and pushed the lead to three with a pair of setpiece goals. With 20 minutes left in the half, senior Kacy Hartman curled a corner kick into the wind and saw it elude the Dexter keeper for a goal directly off the kick, putting the Hornets up two. With 9:08 before the break, wing midfielder Kellie Stepaniak forced another corner kick and took it herself. Sophomore Autumn Jacobs rose and headed home powerfully from six yards to give Saline a commanding 3-0 lead at halftime.
"We've practiced those since Day 1," Tapping said of his team's recent proficiency in dead ball situations. "We've realized that when we get to the playoffs and you're playing really good teams, you're only going to have a few of those, so you have to make them count.
"I think the girls understand that when we get opportunities, we have to take advantage of them."
Jacobs fired over 10 minutes into the second half and Kaminski's dangerous cross five minutes later slipped through the box, but as the half progressed the Dreadnaughts worked their way back into the game. Dexter eventually got on the board with 18:02 left the play, then stunned the Hornets with a second goal less than three minutes later.
The two goals equaled the number the Saline defense had allowed the entire rest of the season, but from that point Dexter rarely threatened Hannah Ulrich's goal and the Hornets held to improve their record to 7-1-1 on the season.
"We got a little comfortable, they made a couple of good switches, and we made a couple of mistakes," Tapping said. "But we got the win."
The Hornets — now enjoying the program's highest-ever position in the state's coaches' rankings at No. 7 — stayed much closer to Northville than in the two team's 2007 regular season meeting, won by the Mustangs 5-1, but it wasn't enough.
"We're disappointed, because we didn't feel like we showed what we're capable of," Tapping said. "We had a few chances we didn't capitalize on."
Saline will host Lincoln Thursday night before traveling to Ann Arbor Huron Friday.
The Hornets also mercy-ruled Adrian 8-0 at home Thursday.
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