Fremd calmly claims crown

Championship teams don't panic.

Fremd didn't even though it had scored only 1 goal and trailed Wheeling at halftime of Thursday's Mid-Suburban League girls water polo championship match in Palatine.

The Vikings calmly responded with 2 goals in the first 1:21 after intermission and four in the third quarter. That put them on their way to their third straight MSL title with a 7-4 victory.

"We know our defense is strong and we needed to be patient to get the goals we need to," said Fremd senior scoring leader Erika Lauraitis, who had 2 second-half goals.

"We knew defensively we'd be able to shut them down," said sophomore Emily Orlowski, who put Fremd ahead to stay with the first of his 2 goals. "As long as the defense is there the offense comes through."

Sam DelPrado also had 2 goals and Megan Kennedy scored the other goal for Fremd (28-1), which beat Wheeling 10-4 for last year's crown. Sophomore goalie Julie Conrath had 2 big stops after Orlowski's goal for a 4-3 lead with 3:40 left in the third.

But Wheeling (17-5) took a 2-1 lead into halftime on the first of 2 goals by Amy Wilson and one by Christa Khatcherian, who also put the defensive clamps on Lauraitis.

"I told them at halftime, how rarely does it work out like that," Wheeling coach Bob Savitt said of everything going to the pre-match plan.

Then DelPrado and Lauraitis scored 22 seconds apart to give Fremd the lead with 5:39 left in the third. Wilson tied it 10 seconds later, but Orlowski broke it from 10 meters with Lauraitis double-teamed.

"We've learned this year to work better together," Lauraitis said.

"Emily did a great job of taking some good shots," said Fremd coach Brian Newby. "Kristina D'Andrea took shots outside that definitely made Wheeling think about doubling-down on Erika."

Wheeling got within 6-4 on Emily Sullivan's goal with 6:01 left. Orlowski sealed it for Fremd with a goal at 3:15.

But Savitt, whose team beat New Trier 6-3 Tuesday, was ecstatic with how his MSL East champions performed against a team that finished third in the state last year.

"I told the girls, 'If you had seen this game from the deck, you guys looked great," Savitt said.

"It's really encouraging to see us play like this," Wilson said. "We haven't played this well all season. We've been progressing and progressing and I feel we're at a level where we can beat the best teams in the state."