Girls water polo: Mundelein sees bright side of 1-goal setback to New Trier

If there is such a thing as a good loss, fans witnessed one Thursday evening at Mundelein High School.

The Mustangs girls water polo team came up on the short end of a 13-12 decision but more importantly, they played tooth and nail against the state's sixth-ranked team in visiting New Trier.

"I'm so proud of the girls and how far they've come in a short time," said first-year coach Mike Vukovics, whose team has a very respectable 4-4 mark, especially in light of the competition Mundelein has played in the early going. "The girls are really coming together. We still need to work on the little things, but they have the belief that they can play with and beat anyone."

That mindset has definitely been and most certainly was on display Thursday.

After New Trier scored 2 unanswered goals to open the game, Mundelein showed grit and perseverance in coming right back with two minutes left in the frame. Sophomore set Ella Krauss knocked in both goals, the second on a penalty shot.

The Trevians (7-1) had reclaimed the lead 3-2 in the closing seconds of the opening quarter, but again Mundelein wasn't going anywhere.

Mustangs leading scorer - junior utility Abbie Lukas - snuck one of her 5 goals into the left corner in the opening minute of the second quarter and we were knotted again at 3-3.

"We're still a pretty young team but I think the key has been we're always growing and we're becoming unified," said Lukas, who scored 18 goals during the Mustangs' 2-2 performance at the always competitive Naperville Central tournament last weekend. "This was by far our best game. We got a chance to see multiple shooters."

Lukas scored two more goals after that and junior defender and attacker Amanda Garcia's tally with 4 ticks left before halftime cut New Trier's deficit to 7-6.

Mundelein came out on fire to open the third, scoring two unanswered goals by junior defender Carolyn Westgate and senior utility Jessica Peterson to snag an 8-7 lead.

Senior utility Julia Whelan then scored, and Lukas's fourth tally with 1:30 left in the third produced a 10-8 Mustangs lead.

But New Trier came right back with two quick goals to tie it 10-10 heading to the fourth.

New Trier scored first to open the fourth but Lukas fed senior utility Lucy Renz for an 11-11 deadlock.

The Trevians then captured the lead for good at 13-11 with 4:02 left in regulation.

Lukas's fifth goal closed it to within 13-12 with 3:40 left.

Going for the equalizer, Lukas had a penalty shot stopped with 52 seconds left.

"That's OK - it wasn't the shot I wanted," she said. "We always stay positive and take something from every game."

The Mustangs have prided themselves on some pretty stingy defense as well.

Whelan, Lukas, Garcia, Westgate, Peterson, Krauss, and junior defender Bryce Pauly all contributed to a smothering defense.

"The mentality and culture of the team has gotten so much better and that's because of coach," said Pauly. "He's teaching us to never give up and to keep going."

Freshman keeper Hannah Stanley stopped 7 shots, several from point-blank range during mad scrambles around the goal.

Mundelein was also very active on offense in holding a 29-24 advantage in shots on goal.

The Mustangs travel to LaGrange for another good test at the Lyons tournament on Friday.