Boys water polo: Scouting Northwest

Barrington

The Broncos had their best season in program history last spring, finishing second in the MSL West at 7-3 on the way to a 23-7 overall record. There's reason to believe even better things are ahead for Barrington, as a group reliant on seniors focuses on a big finish. Senior captain Chase Lesniak is the program's all-time leading scorer and was an all-conference and all-sectional choice last year. The other key seniors are Marshall Mathias, Matt Gouskos, Pat Hogan, Charlie Hoffman and Jim Gibson; tough sophomore Mitch Gavars will also have a prominent role. "The foundation of our season will be the ability of our seniors to step up and do the hard work necessary to get themselves to that next level in the MSL, sectional and state tournament," said coach Rob Emary. "The goal of our program is to continually improve as individuals and as a team, establishing a culture of skill improvement, hard work and commitment for the future."

Buffalo Grove

Coach Scott Kopecky's team earned a 16-10 victory over Hoffman Estates in the team's only game to date this spring, as Chris Schulstad (5 goals), Liam Boubouleix (4), Anthony Sorgani (4) and Sean Trinchere (2) led the scoring effort. The Bison wrapped up last season 12-19 overall and 5-5 against Mid-Suburban East foes.

Conant

It was a year of development last year for Conant, and coach Tim Daniel hope that pays some dividends this spring. The Cougars return six of their seven starters from a 15-16 overall mark and 5-5 effort in the MSL West. One key will be be Connor Schmitz, a senior center who earned a spot on the Midwest Olympic Development Program roster and likely to play polo at Mercyhurst College next year, along with with goalie Jake Lawson. Other big roles go to senior attacker Cody Yeiser, junior utility Braden Lamore and junior utility Mihir Patel. "As usual," said Daniel, "our stance at Conant is to be competing for a sectional championship at the end of the season. Expectations are high this year." The Cougars are looking at mid-April as the first opportunity to compete in their renovated pool.

Elk Grove

Chris Doruff earned a preseason mention at illpolo.com, and the senior showed why in Elk Grove's first game, picking up 8 steals and 2 goals in a 14-8 loss to visiting Palatine. Adam Doruff and David Drange led the scoring effort for the Grenadiers in that game, a 14-8 loss.

Fremd

Coach Brian Newby's team made an impressive push at the end of last season, as the Vikings finished 14-16 overall and 5-5 in the MSL West before making an appearance in the sectional title game. Many of the key players from that group are back, including junior center/center defender Dylan Assmann, who merited a mention on illpolo.com's preseason all-state team. Others Newby will counting on include seniors Dan Anderson (driver), Zach Starkey (driver), Conrad Wodja (center defender) and juniors Robert De Pau (driver), Nate Jordan (utility), Alex Nicholas (utility) and Zak Keper (goalie). "I feel we have a chance to contend for the (MSL West) title," Newby said. "We are not the favorite, but I think we have a legitimate shot. I feel we are well balanced team that could have a successful season."

Hersey

The Huskies were a force in the Mid-Suburban East last year. Many of the keys from that 20-7 best-ever Hersey team were seniors, but a handful of players are back, too. Jake Hall has excelled along with Eric Dieterich, and they led the way in Hersey's 11-4 victory over Schaumburg, a team which hand been ranked No. 40 in the state by illpolo.com. The Huskies also counted a 13-7 win over Maine West last week in which Kristiyan Donov led the way with 3 goals. Count on coach Dick Mortensen finding a way to be among the best in the MSL East once again.

Hoffman Estates

Getting better is the task at hand for Hoffman Estates, which struggled through last year. Coach Kevin Kledzik is looking for better results from his seniors, which includes Joey Smiley, Dirgham Nubani and brothers Jacob and Joshua Pasaye, along with a returning junior who saw varsity action last year, Michael Emma. "Considering our record was 3-26," said Kledzik, "we hope to make an improvement upon our 11th-place finish in the MSL last year." Nubani had a big scoring effort in a 16-10 loss to Buffalo Grove, producing 7 of the team's 10 goals.

Maine West

The Warriors and new coach Robert Delaney will try to improve on last year's 8-16 overall and 2-2 Central Suburban North finish. The first time out early last week was a 13-7 loss to Hersey, as Brendan Atwood (3 goals), Adam Smolik-Valles (2) and Tony Connor (2) provided all the offense with Aaron Bilski defending the goal.

Palatine

The defending MSL West champs lost the bulk of their top players from last year's MSL champion team, which ended up making a successful run to a spot in the state quarterfinals. That's the bad news; here's the good: Senior 2-meter defender Jacob Baran and standout wing player Ryan Schlaiss are back in their spots. So it's a question of how many answers the Pirates can find for the other positions. Coach Joe Grzybek knows a repeat of last year's 22-9 overall and 10-0 league mark is unlikely, so he's focusing on finding those answers. Junior Marcus Carter-Buckman has been providing some with regular scoring. Others providing quality play already have been Colin White, Dylan White, Alex Adame, Adam Smith, T.J. May and Sean O'Brien. Jake Conrad takes over in goal after playing JV last year, and on balance Grzybek expects to see a much more capable team by season's end. After Saturday's performance in the Pirate Invitational, the coach was pleased with the rate of progress. "We're already probably a little bit better defensively than we were last year," he said. "I like our group of guys. They're smart, and they communicate with each other really well."

Prospect

First-year coach Steve Grzybek has a plan - but it may take time for it to work the way he'd like. "Taking over a team requires teaching the players your particular style of playing the game," he said. "Usually that means slowly erasing the former game plan and/or building your own. It takes time, but with the eagerness and energy the team showcases, I think we could do well. We're focusing on each game with the optimism of conference in mind." The Knights finished 12-11 last year, and fared well in the MSL East at 7-3. The key returning players figure to be seniors Michael Morikado, Sam Gabriel, George Schober and Tyler Culliton, along with juinors Isaac Ginnodo and Jack Bellows.

Schaumburg

Seniors James Birriel earned a preseason all-state mention from illpolo.com, and senior Jack Pyde and junior Tyler Gustafson have been among the encouraging early season performers for coach Adam Koschnitzke, whose team finished 10-14 overall last year and 3-7 in the MSL West. In action over the weekend at Stagg, the Saxons finished 2-2, topping Bradley 15-9 in the fifth-place game.

St. Viator

It's generally been tough going in the ultra-competitive Metro Catholic Athletic Conference, but St. Viator seems to have an above-average group this year. Both Frank Skorski and Keegan Finn earned a mention on the illpolo.com preseason all-state team, and the Lions were ranked 32nd as a team. So far, St. Viator has dropped an 8-6 OT decision to De La Salle and earned a 9-6 win against Hersey in which Skorski made 9 saves in goal. Finn (3 goals), Shea Boyer (3) and Zachary Benson (2) led the scoring effort for St. Viator.

Wheeling

The Wildcats played a tough schedule out of conference last year, finishing 12-18. But a competitive 6-4 finish in the MSL East was encouraging, and coach John Means returns one of the conference's elite performers in junior Nate Reiff. He's not only emerging as one of the state's best swimmers but is also making waves in polo, having recently participated in Olympic Development Program competition. The Wildcats so far have topped Maine East 11-8, lost to Fremd 14-8 and then dropped three games in Saturday's tournament at Stevenson.