with slideshow: Saline water polo loses title game; Pioneer rebounds for 5th place and Huron finishes in 7th

More MLive.com coverage: Saline-Okemos Boxscore | Pioneer-East Kentwood Boxscore | Huron-East Grand Rapids Boxscore

Silverman planned on countering Okemos’ speed with his own speedy lineup. But Okemos’ defense clamped down through the first half, limiting the Hornets’ scoring chances.

“It’s not just a matter of swimming fast, but moving the ball quickly and accurately,” Silverman said. “We weren’t able to do that early enough, and they just kept building that lead gradually.”

Okemos’ defensive effort began with goalkeeper Monique Pentecost, who joined Dudley on the all-tournament first team.

“Goalkeeping has been the foundation that we built this team around,” Okemos head coach Greg Jenkins said. “When Monique plays well, it inspires our defense, and we can take a few defensive gambles, and it tends to generate offense.”

Saline made some halftime adjustments in an effort to counterattack, but Okemos’ 7-1 lead was too much to overcome.

“We saw that they were dropping from the outside, so we knew if we could move the ball quickly on the perimeter we could get some looks, and we did,” Silverman said.

Alli Littlejohn led the Hornets with two goals, and Stephanie Bundas scored one as well.
Defending state champion Pioneer may not have added another state title, but Will Hart was a proud head coach after his team’s fifth-place finish.

Pioneer rebounded from its first round loss on Friday by taking two games on Saturday. Pioneer won the fifth-place game, 7-5, over East Kentwood.

“This team probably went farther and grew more than any other team I’ve ever coach,” Hart said. “To me, this fifth place means more than some state titles I’ve won because I’m so proud of the journey they took together.”

Diana Steele scored three goals and Julia Lovejoy added two to lead Pioneer in its final game.

Pioneer incorporated a versatile game plan to shut down East Kentwood’s biggest offensive threat, Julia Riemersma. Riemersma, who scored 10 goals in the Falcons’ first two games, was held scoreless.

“She can light you up whether you’re guarding her or you’re fouling her,” Hart said. “We knew it was going to take a team of people switching on and off to slow her down. We were able to control her.”

The season was one of maturation for Pioneer, and Hart was thrilled to see it in his players.

“We had a lot of players who were inexperienced,” Hart said. “They were thrust into the situation, and they really grew.

“By the end of it, they knew what to do and were instructing the younger players and how to do it.”

Huron, which climbed to as high as No. 2 in the state rankings, finished in seventh place with a 12-10 overtime win over East Grand Rapids.

Huron began Saturday with a 9-7 loss to East Kentwood and finished 1-2 for the tournament.

“It’s humbling,” Huron head coach Evan Koorhan said.

Huron trailed 6-2 early in the third quarter and needed a strong rally to get the win.
“We had girls questioning what we should be doing because they weren’t getting their plays off,” Koorhan said.

“I said, ‘No, these plays are designed for you guys to operate one-on-one. You guys can get those shots off, finish your play, keep driving and keep moving, and we’ll start getting the calls.’”

The plays, and the River Rats’ patience, started to pay off. Huron outscored the Pioneers 10-4 to close the game.

For Huron, Jessica Ford scored twice in overtime, goalkeeper Greta Bolhuis supplied some key saves late, and Annie Tamblyn led all players with six goals.

“Jessica finally started nailing those backhands,” Koorhan said. “Backhands are a big momentum builder in this sport. She won the game for us in that respect.

With less than a minute remaining in regulation, Bolhuis made two saves that set up the overtime session. She followed that by shutting out East Grand Rapids in the overtime.“I couldn’t have had asked for a better performance when we needed it most,” Koorhan said. “I was so happy with the way she was playing. That saved our butts right there.”