Gallery: Murphy Scores 7 as Saline Opens Districts With 15-0 Victory

Michigan High School water polo playoffs began Friday and even though district-tournament host Saline was heavily favored, senior co-captain Maddy Murphy knew it was important to come out strong.

“It was really important for our team to win this game, otherwise our season would have been over,” said Murphy, who scored seven goals in Saline’s 15-0 victory. “We wanted to come out strong and start off right. Now tomorrow it’s going to be really important for us to get a good ranking for regionals.”

Maddy Murphy, who scored 7 goals, talks about Saline's big win pic.twitter.com/PGrupW25Mf

— TheSalinePost (@TheSalinePost) May 13, 2016

Saline plays Pioneer in the district semifinal at 10:15 a.m. The winner advances to the district championship game at 2:15 p.m. By virtue of Friday’s win, the Hornets are guaranteed a spot in next week’s regional. Saline’s finish Saturday will determine their seed in the regional tournament.

There wasn’t much doubt that Saline was superior to Grand Blanc. Still, Hornet coach Katie Neidermire liked the way her team attacked.

“We played Dexter earlier in the week and we struggled to score goals. So it was important to have a game like this where we finished our chances,” Neidermire said.

Nobody finished more than Murphy, who scored seven goals despite resting for most of the second half. A Hornet interception set up Holly Harmon’s game opening goal 1:44 into the game. 21 seconds later, the Hornets forced a turnover and Murphy fired a shot. Grand Blanc’s goalie made the save but Murphy got to the rebound and put it in. Murphy’s went on to score four straight goals in 1:39. She had five goals by the end of the period. Sam Fox and Sam Fitch also scored in the first period. Saline led 8-0.

Cassie Anderson scored the first of her two goals 2:10 into the second period. A little more than a minute later Gillian Gatecliff and Murphy worked the give-and-go and Murphy scored to make it 10-0. Not even a minute later Lisa Gross set up Murphy for her seventh goal just halfway through the second period. Saline scored three goals in the final 1:23 of the half. Gatecliff scored on an exclusion. Gillian Cain scored on the rebound of a Gatecliff shot to make it 13-0. With 15 seconds left, Gatecliff passed to Anderson, who fired the shot in the goal for a 14-0 lead.

Hope Smith scored the only goal of the second half,

Katie Wagner and Alyssa Deal split duties in goal and shared the shutout.

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