80-minute effort

Salem never lets up in convincing 3-0 triumph over Livonia Stevenson

  The last time Salem's soccer team scored three goals against Livonia Stevenson, Dan Martin was still in elementary school, refining his soon-to-be-stellar skills.
  Martin utilized those skills to the max Thursday night when his ice-breaking goal with 23:23 left in the first half proved to be the catalyst for the Rocks' 3-0 triumph over the Spartans.
  Salem (8-2-2 overall) earned some cushion in the KLAA Central Division standings by improving its division mark to 4-0. The Spartans dropped to 2-2, one game behind second-place Northville.
  Martin made Stevenson's goalie pay for a poor clearing pass when he secured a feed from Lachlan Savage, made a slick dribble move past a defender and tucked a low laser into the lower-right corner of the goal to give the Rocks a lead it would never relinquish.
  "I knew their defender was going to pass the ball back to their keeper and I figured with my speed I could get there on time," Martin said, recalling his goal. "Thankfully, it worked out.
  "This win means a lot. Every year this is the game that usually decides a lot of things in the division. This kind of puts us in the driver's seat for now."
  Martin has been a key component in the Rocks' climb to first place, Salem coach Ed McCarthy emphasized.
  "Dan has an extremely high work rate and he covers more ground than anyone on the field," said McCarthy. "By the nature of his work rate, his athleticism and all the ground he covers, he puts himself in position to create more opportunities.
  "I love the way he helps us out defensively and in the last couple of games he has gotten a couple of big goals. He's starting to help us in the attack, which is what we really need from him."
  Alex Tramel doubled Salem's lead to 2-0 with 18:52 left in the game when he shifted into overdrive to dribble through a pair of Spartan defenders and aim a hard, low shot past diving Stevenson net-minder Connor Burton. Savage assisted on that goal as well.
  Seven minutes later, Savage put an exclamation point on the victory when he lasered a direct kick from 25 yards out into the top left-hand corner of the net.
  Salem senior goal-keeper Sasa Miskovic was his usual brick-wall self, stopping all eight chances the Spartans threw at him. His most perilous save came with 3:35 to go in the first half when he went high to pull down a rebound off a near-miss corner kick.
  Sophomore defender Jake Genrich helped preserve the shutout when he cleared a bouncing ball on the door-step with 27 minutes to play.

Ed Wright can be reached at info@plymouthcantonsports.com or (734) 453-1980.