The Saline-Milan girls’ water polo team advanced to the East Regional tournament at Grand Blanc this weekend after a second-place finish at the district tournament at Ann Arbor Skyline Saturday.
The Chickadees will face the three seed from district three Walled Lake in the opener Friday night at 5:15. A win secures a spot in the state finals in two weeks.
The Hornets had a bye in the first round and took on three seed Chelsea in the semifinals and came away with a tough 6-2 win over the Bulldogs.
Chelsea took a 1-0 lead, but the Chickadees bounced back with two goals before the end of the first for a 2-1 lead and never looked back.
The defense locked down in the second and two more Saline-Milan goals made it 4-1 at the half.
The Chickadee defense continued to smother the Bulldogs in the third, holding them coreless once again and holding on to a 4-1 lead after three.
Chelsea got one back in the fourth, but Saline-Milan put it away with a pair of goals for the 6-2 win.
Kiera Luhrs led the way with three goals for Saline-Milan. Sara Mitchell added two goals and Annabelle Williams one for the Chickadees.
Alex Lillie had two assists and Dori Cook one. Kelsey Altevogt stopped eight of two shots in net for the Chickadees.
Saline-Milan advanced to the championship match to face the state #1 ranked team Ann Arbor Skyline and gave the Eagles all they could handle in an 8-6 loss.
The teams were tied 4-4 after three periods, but the Eagles outscored Saline-Milan 4-2 in the fourth to pull away for the win.
Mitchell finished with a team high three goals and two assists.
Williams had a goal and assist, while Lillie and Luhrs had one goal each. Lily McKenna had one assist and Altevogt made nine saves in net for the Chickadees.
Prior to the district tournament the Chickadees wrapped up regular season play with a 15-5 win over Grand Blanc.
Luhrs had a big night with six goals for Saline-Milan.
Kamryn Stripp also had a big game with three goals and three assists, while McKenna had two goals and three assists. Cook added two goals and two assists and Lille a goal and assist.
