Boys water polo: Growth spurt continues in Warren's program

The interest seems to be contagious.

As the Warren varsity boys water polo team has embarked on the new season, you wouldn't think these guys were only in their second year as a program.

"We're really excited about the growth of the program," said Blue Devils second-year coach Brian Esposito, who saw numbers skyrocket to 40 players coming out for the varsity and JV teams this spring. "And after last year, they realized they can compete and are able to win on the varsity level."

Esposito and the boys actually won 8 games last year - not too bad, considering that a lot of the team members hadn't ever played the sport.

"It's all about depth, and we're growing," added Esposito. "We just need to keep working at it."

So far this spring, Warren won its opener 8-6 over Hoffman Estates last week.

Then, Wednesday evening at the O'Plaine Road pool, Deerfield was able to pull away with an 18-6 victory.

"We played well against another good team," said Esposito. "And we played well as a team in the first half."

Attackers Justin Elkington, a returning senior, and Jomil Duka, a returning sophomore, were aggressive and active around the goal in the first half.

Sophomore keeper Riley Nebel was active in goal as well before hurting his ankle in the first half. Junior Jeremy Gunter relieved him and stopped several second-half shots.

Duka and Elkington are two of the Devils' top scorers and had a couple of goals apiece against Deerfield.

The offense will also draw on the experience and scoring from returning players, including juniors Sam Aiello, Wes Gari, Santiago Currea, Diego Benitez, Gunter and sophomore Shane Mundt.

"He (Riley) wanted to play hurt but for obvious reasons, we had to take him out," said Esposito.

In the second half, Warren got as close as 12-5.

The Blue Devils' 2-meter defenders, junior Gustavo Kolicheski and senior Austin Cortes, did a great job defensively on one of the Warriors strongest players, who finished with 3 goals, 7 steals and 2 assists.

Esposito said two key newcomers that should have an impact are attacker/utility players Peter Mikolitis and Shawn Coffell.

"The main goal is to never get shut out or blown out. Our gauge for now is how well we do in tournaments," said Esposito.

Warren will compete in the Elk Grove Invitational on Friday and Saturday.