The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Milan girls' soccer, baseball still undefeated in league
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 24, 2008
The Milan varsity soccer team remained a perfect 4-0 in the Huron League last week after posting a 5-2 victory over Flat Rock and 1-0 win over St. Mary Catholic Central.
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The Big Reds dominated offensively and defensively in both victories.
Against the Rams, Sarah Towler had a hat trick and freshman Emily Harris made an impressive varsity debut with two goals.
The win over SMCC on Friday was Milan's first real league test, said coach Russ Billau, and the low-scoring game bore him out.
The Big Reds controlled the play in the first half, recording eight shots on goal, but an outstanding performance by the Falcon goalie kept Milan off the scoreboard. Finally, in the second half, Milan broke through when Lauren Eisen evaded a SMCC defender and crossed the ball to her sister Kaitlin Eisen, who put the ball in the net.
Milan goalkeeper Meghan Donahue and the Big Red defense did the rest to preserve the shutout.
Billau had high praise for his team's defense, which limited the Kestrels to only eight shots on goal.
"Our defense was outstanding," Billau said. "We really dominated them defensively."
Shelby Morley-Janni marked SMCC's top striker and kept her from scoring, while Allison Sell kept possession for the Big Reds for most of the game. Other defenders contributing to the shutout were Stephanie Roe, Brittney Auten, Andrea Armbruster and Katy Hoevemeyer.
The Big Reds could have used some of the scoring from the Flat Rock game Monday night when they lost their first match of the season, falling 6-0 to a strong Chelsea team.
"Chelsea was really gunning for us," Billau said. "They came out and stuck it to us."
The Bulldogs present a difficult match-up for the Big Reds, Billau said, and his team may have been a little intimidated early in the game.
"Once we got over the intimidation factor, we started carrying the play to them," he said. "We played them strong for the last 20 minutes."
The loss to Chelsea could have come at a better time - when the Big Reds were not ramping up for two of their toughest league matches yet, a game Wednesday night against New Boston Huron and one Friday night against Grosse Ile.
"This is the hardest week of the season for us," Billau said, "but if we come out with the same effort we brought against Chelsea in the second half, we'll do all right against New Boston and Grosse Ile."
Staff Writer Brian Cox can be reached at 429-7380 or bcox@heritage.com.
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