Gallagher, Schaumburg bow out against St. Ignatius
It wasn’t the way coach Tom Gallagher and his Schaumburg boys water polo team wanted it to end.
St. Ignatius had taken a 9-3 lead in the second quarter during state quarterfinal play Friday at Stevenson High School. And although the Saxons were able to run their offense and get quality shots, it was too much to overcome when the team’s leading scorer, senior Mike Gergen, suffered his third ejection of the game and spent the rest of it watching from the bench.
Schaumburg did get a nice boost at the end of the period as senior Justin Chen scored on consecutive possessions to pull the Saxons within 9-5.
But a goal from Wolfpack senior standout Mark Alvarado (4 goals, 4 assists) just before the half underscored the point that St. Ignatius still had its top player in the water.
Schaumburg went scoreless in the third period; St. Ignatius won 16-6 and advanced to Saturday’s 11:30 a.m. semifinal against Loyola, a 13-11 winner against McHenry.
Thus the Saxons’ season, and Gallagher’s impressive coaching career, came to an end. The veteran swimming and water polo coach will also leave his teaching post at Schaumburg High School on June 10.
“The thing that was frustrating for us was that we knew Alvarado was going to drive on the ball side, and we just didn’t do a good job of being in position to defend that,” said Gallagher.
Junior Randy Carr led Schaumburg (24-9) with 3 goals and also had 2 assists and was the focal point of the offense for much of the game. Gergen had 1 goal and 1 assist, Danny Hartzman and Marty Kwiatkowski had 1 assist each and Saxons senior goalkeeper Mike George made 7 saves.
“The idea for us was to try to turn it into more of a defensive game, not to let them get ahead and really manage each possession,” said Chen. “But it just didn’t work out for us.”
St. Ignatius (24-7) got 4 goals and 2 assists from Kevin Barth, 2 goals and 3 assists from Brayden Amendola and 2 goals and 4 assists from Tom Maloney. Coach Brian Drumm’s team will appear in the semifinals for the second consecutive year.
If it’s any consolation, the spirit award in the stands was no contest and in Schaumburg’s favor, as several female students displayed their allegiance by spelling out S-A-X-O-N-S, the bodypainted letters adorning their midriffs.
Loyola 13, McHenry 11: A third straight trip to the state quarterfinals yielded the same unsatisfying outcome for coach Craig Fowles and McHenry, as the Ramblers advanced to state semifinal play.
Brendan Hulseman led Loyola (20-14) with 6 goals; Kyle Braun led McHenry (29-5) with 6.
Fenwick edged Lyons 10-8, and Sandburg beat Naperville Central 15-14 in OT in the other quarterfinals.