Hornets Come Up Short Against the Pioneers

The Saline Hornets played a full four-quarter game, but were unable to pull off a win against Ann Arbor Pioneer Wednesday night. The Hornets lost 14-6 in a physical battle against an aggressive Pioneer squad.

“We never gave up; our effort was there the whole time. We played four quarters against one of the top teams in the state,” said head coach Matt Ceo.

The game opened slowly for Saline, as the Pioneers opened up for six unanswered goals in the first quarter. Austin Burd made some solid saves, but was unable to completely stem the tide as Ann Arbor poured on the offense. 

“We knew exactly what they were going to do on offense. We knew every play they were going to run, where it was going to come from. The only issue was one-on-one, not lunging for the man on ball and keeping space between them,” said Ceo.

Brad Harris opened Saline’s scoring with back-to-back goals to start the second period, but the Pioneers bounced back and scored three of their own before the half, the final by Dylan Swanson with 1.8 seconds before the horn. Saline went into the half down 9-2.

Ann Arbor continued to attack coming out of the break, adding another goal to begin the third period.  Colin Cederna answered with an unassisted goal, but the Pioneers came back with two more of their own. Harris scored his third of the night to wrap up the scoring for the quarter, leaving Saline trailing 12-4.

The fourth quarter was a back-and-forth affair that had Harris put his fourth and fifth goals of the night home. Ann Arbor scored two of their own, sandwiched between Harris’ tallies, and the final horn sounded with the Pioneers up by eight.

“Brad Harris is a game changer. When he wants to, he can take over a game. He’s only going to get better,” said Ceo.

The Hornets begins the regional tournament against North Farmington on Saturday, May 21 at noon.