Saline Girls’ Lax Rallies from Five Down for Win

The Saline girls’ lacrosse team used a big second half comeback to overcome a five-goal deficit to rally past Clay, Ohio for a 10-9 win Friday night.

Things did not look good in the beginning for the Hornets with Clay taking a 4-0 lead in the first period.

Lucy Sweeney put the Hornets on the board, but Clay answered for a 5-1 lead after one period.

Saline would cut into the lead with goals by Maddie Nishioka and Kate Aeschliman to make it 6-3, but Clay closed out the second with two goals for an 8-3 lead at halftime.

The Hornets defense would go into lock down in the second half, slowing just one goal the rest of the way.

Ayla Stager started the Hornets rally early in the third and Nishioka followed with her second of the game to make it 8-5.

The lead was cut to 8-7 when Nishioka and Stager scored their second goals of the game.

Clay found the net to make it 9-7, but Carly Pufpaf scored late in the third to cut the lead to 9-8 heading to the final period.

Stager tied the game with 5:32 left for her hat trick to set up an exciting finish.

The game stayed tied until the final moments when Pufpaf scored her second of the game with just 18 seconds remaining for the Hornets first lead of the night 10-9 and they held on for the amazing come from behind win.

The win was the third straight for Saline and improved the Hornets record to 3-3 overall on the season.