Mundelein girls swamp Stevenson

Evelyn Kurzac set the tone, and her water polo teammates followed her lead.

Kurzac scored Mundelein's first four goals and finished with five, as the top-seeded Mustangs defeated No. 2 Stevenson15-3 in the Vernon Hills sectional final Saturday.

"If it wasn't for my teammates' assists, I wouldn't be able to score the goals," said Kurzac, who will play at Utica College in New York next year.

Mundelein celebrated its title by tossing coach Drew Schneider into the pool. The Mustangs (27-6) move into the state quarterfinals and will play Naperville Central at 8:15 p.m. Friday at Stevenson.

"We had a lot of practice and worked together as a team," Kurzac said. "Our goal was go out there to fight and be strong. We did it. We kept up the intensity the whole time. We had everyone shooting and everyone on offense."

Stevenson (18-16) had matched up well with Mundelein in previous matches but fell behind early and never recovered.

Mundelein was up 9-2 at halftime.

"I don't think the score reflects how both teams were battling," Schneider said. "We had plenty of goals but we had to battle for each and every one of them."

Goalie Michelle Barron made 11 saves for the Mustangs, whose defensive effort wasn't surprising. They've consistently held opponents to fewer than five goals a game.

"We've been building defensively as the season has gone on," Schneider said. "It's a great testament to our goalie and our defense.

"In the playoffs, defense is the most important thing. It will help us next week."

Danielle Caldwell added 3 goals for Mundelein, while Alexis Jones, Sara Honda and Jacqui Lodor each had two. Amy Klink also scored.

Cheyenne Montijo tallied twice for Stevenson.

Sam Petti had the Patriots' other goal.

"My hat goes off to Drew and the Mundelein girls," Stevenson coach Jeff Wimer said. "They came to play, and we didn't come to play. When you play in a championship, you have to come ready and prepared. I'll take the blame on this. I didn't have them prepared properly.

"(Mundelein) played smart water polo. We just didn't help each other out defensively."