Hornets Defense Stifles Whippets in Field Hockey

The Saline Hornets girls’ field hockey team had some unfamiliar conditions to deal with on Wednesday night: grass. The team, which normally plays on artificial turf, got off to a slow start, but they were able to play a stringent defense and edge the Washtenaw Whippets 1-0.

“The team has a hard time playing on grass. It’s a totally different game, and it took this team the first ten minutes to get used to it and start playing better,” said head coach Donald Hes.

The first half started slowly for the Hornets, who had to get adjusted to the slower play of the field. Their passing was not as crisp as normal, and the plays they tried to run did not quite go as smoothly as the team is accustomed to. They persevered, and Chrissy Hays redirected a pass from Sara Palmerton with 13:24 left in the first half to put Saline up 1-0.

“(Redirections are) something we practiced yesterday; we talked about the fact that someone always has to be on the opposite post. When the ball comes, you just have to redirect it into the goal. That’s exactly what (Chrissy) did,” said Hes.

On the other end of the field, goalie Jessica Opaleski had little to do. She faced no shots the entire game, thanks to the complete effort of the team in front of her. The defensive effort of the Hornets kept the Whippets off-balance all night; with the midfielders collapsing into their defensive zone to assist their defenders clear out and counterattack their opponent. The team defense allowed no shots and very little in the way of offensive pressure on the way to Saline’s shutout of the Whippets.

“(The defense) was able to shut the offense down almost at the middle of our half. Their offense never really got into our defensive area. Our midfielders did really well today being the first defense. Our actual defenders had to basically just pick up the rest, which they did really well,” said Hes.

The Hornets host Dexter on Saturday. The junior varsity team plays at noon with varsity starting at 1:30 p.m.