The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Lacrosse thumps Mustangs
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: May 17, 2007
The Saline lacrosse team has taken its biggest step yet toward what could prove to be an undefeated regular season.
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The Hornets defeated visiting Northville in decisive fashion Saturday afternoon, taking a 4-0 lead at halftime and pulling away for the 9-2 victory. Six different Hornets scored in the win, which kept Saline's perfect record intact at 13-0.
The Mustangs entered the game with a higher ranking than any opponent Saline had yet faced, but the Hornets were more than ready for what head coach John Phillips called "the biggest regular-season win" in the program's short history.
"The guys have been talking about Northville for two weeks," Phillips said. "This is a super-quality team that's very well-coached, but we got to the ground balls, had sharp passing, and were able to control the game. We were patient on offense. We didn't force anything."
Despite the final outcome, the Hornets looked less than dominant in the early minutes. A jittery Saline defense saw Northville miss a pair of point-blank shots, including one that hit the post, and have two more shots saved by senior goalie Kevin Borst.
But it was Saline that would get on the scoreboard first. With 1:29 left in the opening quarter, junior Nick Schineman took a pass from Joe Cosimo and fired home from 20 yards.
"It was a big goal for us," Phillips said. "Kevin (Borst) had made a couple of great saves to keep us in it and Nick's goal was what got us going. The important thing was that he kept it low. He had 'full mustard' on it, too."
From that point, it was almost all Saline. Scott Harris doubled the Hornet lead barely more than a minute later, and Ben Donahue and Bobby Bianchi added two more goals in the second quarter for a 4-0 lead going into the break. The Saline face-off line of Scott Merk, Evan O'Reilly, Grant Telfer, and Brad Perino won every face-off in the period.
Senior midfielder Kelly O'Sullivan scored three minutes into the third quarter to stretch the margin to 5-0 before Northville responded, scoring twice over the next five minutes to cut the lead to three. But Shane Jay-Garfein would help Saline retake control. The junior attacker notched a pair of assists in the final two minutes of the period, first feeding O'Sullivan for his second goal and then finding Ryan Crawford for a 7-2 lead entering the fourth.
The lead would not be threatened as O'Sullivan and the rest of the Saline midfield dominated possession in the final period. Bianchi scored Saline's eighth in the early moments of the fourth and Crawford scored on a Harris assist for the final seven-goal margin.
"O'Sullivan had a tremendous game today. The bigger the game, the better he plays," Phillips said. "Our defense was outstanding. Dan, (Stevens), Brad (Crimmons), Mike Lahaszhow moved their feet and kept them in front of them all game. Our face-off guys did a great job, too. You couldn't point to any part of our team that didn't come to play today."
The win will give the Hornets confidence entering their road match Tuesday night against University of Detroit-Jesuit, ranked 18th in the state by the Web site LaxPower. On paper, UD-Jesuit is the last major hurdle standing between Saline (ranked 11th after the Northville win) and an undefeated regular season.
"I would like to think so," Phillips said when asked if a win over the Cubs would mean a perfect record. "We don't want to get ahead ourselves. Tecumseh (who Saline defeated 10-4 early in the season) is going to be ready for us. But I would like our chances."
In a tune-up game Friday night, Saline defeated Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard 17-1. Crawford, Evan Braun, Donahue, Bianchi, Jacob Fosdick, Schineman, Ben Boerema, Evan Kourtjian, Jay-Garfein, Matt Dysko, and Kevin Fisher each scored at least one goal in the rout, with Harris, Donahue, Schineman, Cosimo, Lahaszhow, Ryan Luke, and Perino all notching assists.
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