Maine West savors share of CSL North crown

Tuesday turned out to be a special day for the Maine West boys water polo program.

As the Warriors were in pursuit of a Central Suburban North title, they were hosting Glenbrook North - a program Maine West had never beaten.

It was close the whole way, but Maine West ouscored the Spartans 4-1 in the fourth quarter to claim an 11-9 victory under coach Robert Delaney.

The outcome clinched Maine West a share of the Central Suburban North crown, as Maine East (9-12), Glenbrook North (15-10) and the Warriors (9-7) each finished 3-1 in the league.

Brendan Atwood led Maine West with 6 goals, Tony Connor had 3 and brothers Julian and Chris Hernandez scored 1 apiece, while Paul Bilski made 8 saves in goal and Adrian Smolik-Valles was his usual steady presence defensively.

Next up for Maine West is an appearance Friday and Saturday in the tournament hosted by Conant.

• Sean Trinchere (6 goals) and Chris Schulstad (5) paced Buffalo Grove in a 15-7 win against Vernon Hills. In other nonconference games, Fremd fell 9-8 to Mundelein in overtime and Palatine lost 7-6 at York.

• In girls water polo, Conant (23-1) suffered its first setback of the season, falling 4-3 to Oak Park-River Forest in nonconference play.

• Palatine topped St. Charles North 9-5 as Caroline Wojtas (4 goals), Kristin Anderson (2) and Mathilde Mogensen (2) led the scoring effort while Tess O'Brien stopped 12 shots for the Pirates (22-5).

• Rolling Meadows came up short 10-5 against Lake Forest as Lizzie Hardt and Erin Pletch scored twice for the Mustangs (10-16).