The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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19-1 Hornets finish season with flourish
Hornets eliminated in regional final but not before win over Novi
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: June 7, 2007
The Saline lacrosse team's undefeated run and 2007 season finally came to an end last Friday, but not before the Hornets claimed the biggest win in the program's four-year history.
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The Hornets defeated 16-2 regional No. 2 seed Novi in a 6-5 thriller in a regional semifinal May 30. Saline took a 6-3 lead early in the fourth quarter and held off a late Novi charge to advance to the regional championship against top seed and defending state champion Detroit Catholic Central.
Saline would lose that game 11-3 and be eliminated from the playoffs in their first defeat of the season. But the loss did little to take the shine off of a 19-1 campaign that saw the Hornets finish with a flourish of huge victories in their first season competing in Division 1.
"After four years of existence, I'm not sure we could have done any better," said head coach John Phillips. "I think there was a lot of skepticism about the quality of our schedule and about the quality of our team. But at the end of the year, we beat four quality, established programs in a row in Northville, UD-Jesuit, (Ann Arbor) Huron and Jesuit ... We don't have a league to play in, but if we did, there's no doubt that this was a championship-caliber team."
The No. 3 seed in the region, Saline was hoping for its biggest win yet at the expense of regional host Central and the Hornets hung tough in the early going, trailing only 1-0 after the first quarter. And in the second half, Saline equaled the Shamrock scoring at three goals each.
Unfortunately for the Hornets, the state title winner would flex its muscle in the second quarter, controlling possession and outscoring the visitors 7-0 in the period for an all-but-insurmountable 8-0 halftime lead.
Over the final two quarters, Shane Jay-Garfein scored on an assist from Scott Harris, Joe Cosimo scored an unassisted goal, and Grant Phillips fed Ryan Crawford for the last points of the two seniors' careers, but it wasn't nearly enough for Saline as Central stayed firmly in control.
"We're a top-10 team. I think we've proven that. But we're not a top-five team yet," Phillips said. "Their athletic ability really hurt us on the loose balls and kept us from being able to move the ball from our defense through the midfield. But we buckled down in the second half and the kids played hard. I'm proud of the way they played."
Phillips was likely even prouder of the Hornets' performance against Novi. Despite conceding a goal on the Wildcats' first shot of the game, Saline held the lead at the end of the first period following a pair of Harris assists, one to Jay-Garfein and the second to Crawford with 1:22 to play in the period.
After a Novi goal, Kelly O'Sullivan responded for Saline with 7:16 to play before halftime, only for Novi to even the score again just eight seconds later. The Hornets retook the lead late in the period on a precision five-pass sequence starting with goalie Kevin Borst and ending with a Harris assist to Phillips, playing (and scoring) for the first time since breaking his right arm in a game May 5.
The play of Saline's defense would prove pivotal in the third period. With the Hornet offense missing a series opportunities to extend the lead and seeing a Crawford goal disallowed, the physical defense of Saline's back line of Dan Stevens, Brad Crimmons, Mike Lahaszow, Brad Perino and Grant Telfer repeatedly turned away Novi's efforts to tie the game.
Eventually Saline broke through on the other end, with Nick Schineman feeding Harris for a 5-3 lead with 1:35 to play in the third. Harris would then stretch the lead to three early in the fourth, stealing a Novi pass in the Wildcats' defensive zone and burying a shot from close range.
"I saw a cut to the middle and reacted. Those are the ones you've got to be able to dunk," said Harris, a junior. "Our defense held us up all night. You can't miss those."
But Novi wasn't done, closing to 6-4 with 9:14 to play and catching a break when another point-blank shot from Harris hit the post. Despite a string of saves from goalie Kevin Borst, the Wildcats then pulled within one on a man-up goal with 2:07 left.
But solid defense and an offensive stall that burned more than a minute of the clock made sure the one goal stood up.
"We've got a lot of people who've been 'slagging' the program," Harris said, "so to come out of this game with a win was huge. I loved it."
"It's hard to describe how big this is. We faced a lot of adversity in the second half," Phillips said, referring to a string of officiating decisions in the fourth quarter against the Hornets that the coaching staff felt had been questionable. "But our defense played like men tonight. Kevin was incredible. You can't say enough about the job they did."
It was the final shining moment for the 10 members of Saline's senior class: Evan O'Reilly, Grant Phillips, Stevens, Evan Braun, Crawdford, Dan Lopez, Borst, O'Sullivan, Ben Donahue and Ben Beorema. The class varied in experience and talent from four-year starters Phillips and Donahue to hardworking first-year varsity player and face-off midfielder Lopez. But John Phillips said they all share a similar work ethic and willingness to play as a team.
"They've come together and formed the backbone of this program," he said. "They would contribute in any way they could, whether it was defense, offense, someone like Kevin stepping up and becoming a dynamite goalie. It's really tough to lose them."
Staff Writer Jerry Hinnen can be reached at 429-7380 or at jhinnen@heritage.com.
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