Cederna on Saline LAX: "We're a Force to be Reckoned With"

Opening the season with two wins and two losses sounds rather pedestrian. But the Saline Hornets boys’ varsity lacrosse team is was pumped after defeating Salem 8-4 Thursday to even up their record before the break.

Saline opened the season with hard fought overtime losses to Holt and Okemos.

But after bashing Bedford 20-0 and then defeating Salem 8-4 Thursday to square their record, the Hornets are satisfied with the start to their season.

Saline defeated Salem without leader Brad Harris and Trevor Carey. Coach Matt Ceo said senior Colin Cederna, who scored four goals and added an assist, filled the void, and that the team’s defense, led by Tyler Sheets, were responsible for the victory.

Cederna said the team stayed positive after the loss two early overtime losses, including the 9-8 loss to Okemos in a game that went to seven overtimes.

“Both those teams are highly ranked and both those teams, last year, completely killed us. Holt mercied us. Okemos beat us bad. And we came back this year and we took both teams to overtime. That shows we’re a completely new team this year,” Cederna said. “We are a team to be reckoned with.”

Cederna and Sheets pointed to the improved defense as the reason for the transformation.

“Our defense has really stepped us this year. There are no easy goals against Saline,” Sheets said.

Both agreed the outlook for the season was positive.

“I think we’ve beaten Detroit Catholic Central in the playoffs once. I think this year we’ll do it for a second time,” Cederna said.

Saline returns to action April 11 at Pioneer. The Hornets’ next game is April 23, when they host Skyline.

Here’s the scoring summary from Thursday’s game.