Saline, MI. – It was a beautiful sunset glowing over the Saline Hornets football stadium Monday night as the Ann Arbor Pioneers faced off against the West Bloomfield Lakers in the Division 1 field hockey state quarterfinals. Both teams had plenty of fans on hand to support them there.
It did not take long for Pioneer to get on the scoreboard as Lizzy Soldan blasted a shot by Lakers goalkeeper Madison Wiegand. Less than a minute later it was senior Teddy Tolbert adding another goal. 2 minutes later Soldan scored again to take a big Pioneer 3-0 lead. Off a penalty corner as the first quarter expired Junior Grace Grabowski scored off an assist by Soldan for a big 4-0 lead.
In the second it was all Pioneer again as their staunch defense kept the ball in Lakers territory. 3 minutes into the second it was Junior midfielder and Penn State Field Hockey commit Maren Brady netting a big goal to put Pioneer up 5-0 where it would remain until halftime.
14 seconds into the third quarter Soldan scored a hat trick goal to give her team a 6-0 lead. 2 minutes later Maya Hammerman scored the 7th goal of the game and at 6:16 of the third Pioneer scored its 8th goal on the night enacting the mercy rule thus ending the game in big victory to them.
Lakers goalkeeper Weigand made several big stops throughout the game but the Lakers could not challenge Pioneer offensively try as they might.
Pioneer will take on Saline on Wednesday night in Farmington in the MHSFHL state semifinal game at 6 P.M. The winner of that game will play in the state final game Saturday in Farmington at 2 P.M.
