Hornets Hold Off Late Tecumseh Rally

The Saline Hornets fought off a pesky Tecumseh Indians team for a 10-7 victory Tuesday night.  Saline started off sluggish, but rallied behind solid goal keeping by senior Ashton Cole and an explosive first half by sophomore Chelsey Bishop.

Tecumseh raced out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first half before Coach Deb Elliot called a time-out to rally and reposition her troops.  The plan worked, and Saline came out and tied the score behind Bishop’s first two goals.  After that, the first half was a give-and-take affair, with one team scoring and the other tying it back up.  Bishop scored two more goals for the Hornets, and Meredith Phillips scored the final goal of the half and gave Saline its first lead of the night, 5-4.

“We made some adjustments on the draw, swapped some players around the circle and just gave them a pep talk during the time out.  We have a lot of new players; it’s a challenge developing the ones that were here last year and then adding a totally new group into the mix,” said Elliot.

The second half opened as Tecumseh sped down and tied the game back up, but Saline answered with four straight goals, two by Bishop and two by Phillips, before the Indians could muster any kind of offense.  Amelia Waters scored the tenth Hornet goal late in the half, but the score was immediately answered by Tecumseh.  The Indians continued to push hard at Cole in goal, but she rose to the challenge, making several key saves to keep Saline ahead.

“[Cole] has a lot of experience.  She’s been a real asset, especially with the younger goalies that we have on the junior varsity.  It’s nice for her to give a little bit back with that experience,” said Elliot.

The Hornets host Dexter on Friday, April 29.