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Conant cherishes first state tourney berth

Conant's girls water polo team certainly enjoyed the difference in perspective afforded by its victory over Fremd in the Schaumburg sectional championship game Saturday.

The Cougars topped the Vikings 11-3, thus gaining the program's first participation in the state's Elite Eight at Stevenson next weekend.

So coach Justin Bickus and his senior-led team savored the celebratory post-game dunking, one they'd been working toward for an entire year. A main motivation for the Cougars this spring had been to avoid the feeling of a loss in the sectional final, which is how the previous season ended.

"It's not so much that winning is this great euphoric thing," said Bickus, "but we really wanted to avoid that feeling we had last year. I think that's been one of the keys for us all season."

Another was senior leadership and ability, as Emily Weingart stepped forward with a game-high 4 goals and Carmen Rosas had 3.

Fremd's defensive aptitude kept things close early before the Cougars started to get some breathing room in the second quarter. Up 5-2 at the half, Conant took command in the third quarter, outscoring Fremd 5-1 as Weingart scored twice from the wing before finishing the period with a counter-attack goal.

Fremd (17-10) got 1 goal in each of the first 3 periods as Megan Younker, Emma Hoffman and Becca Rutkowski solved standout Conant goalie Maddy Demaret (who ended up making one of her 10 saves on a penalty shot). But the Vikings were shut out in the fourth quarter.

"I just think it was a total team effort," said Rosas, Conant's all-time leading scorer. "Everybody knew what they had to do, and then they went out and did it."

The Mid-Suburban League champs also got 2 goals from Sam Wooley, and 1 apiece from Miranda Fenlon and Paulina Chowaniec.

"The way last year ended, there were enough of us back from that team that I think it did make a difference," Weingart said. "Today I think we just had a level of confidence that we could get it done."

Conant (28-3) will meet Lyons (21-10), a 6-3 winner against Mother McAuley on Saturday, in an 8:15 p.m. state quarterfinal on Thursday in Lincolnshire.

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