Things shaping up nicely for Stevenson

For the first week of water polo practice, the Stevenson boys didn't make one pass or attempt even a single shot.

The sole focus was conditioning.

While certainly far from pleasant at the time, it pays off over the course of the season.

And Friday in the Lake County tournament at Vernon Hills was certainly one of those days.

Stevenson rolled to an 11-3 victory over Deerfield, and five minutes later had to return to the pool to meet Vernon Hills. The Patriots sustained their high level of play in a 15-4 victory.

Stevenson (4-1) improved to 3-0 in the tournament and will play Mundelein at 2 p.m. today at Vernon Hills in the tournament's championship game. The Mustangs also won their first three games.

"We look forward to playing Mundelein because it usually determines our seed for the sectional," senior Duncan Partridge said. "It's our most important game of the regular season."

Coach Sean Wimer was impressed with the way the Patriots handled the first week of practice.

"There was a lot of complaining last year, but they expected it this year," he said. "Water polo is a game of constant motion where there's never any time to rest."

Added Partridge: "The carry over that a lot of our guys have from swimming is so helpful, and the first week (Wimer) makes sure the guys are fit and ready to play. You can shoot all you want, but if you can't swim you can't play polo."

Against Vernon Hills (2-7), Partridge scored a trio of third-quarter goals in rapid succession. He finished with a game-high 5 goals.

"That kid is so fast," Wimer said. "Speed kills."

Senior Jamie Clark scored 2 goals in the first quarter to help stake the Patriots to a quick lead. They pushed the advantage to 4-0 when senior goalkeeper Andrey Lomsky lofted a shot from the other end of the pool before the buzzer sounded.

"That was pretty incredible," Wimer said. "His passing (also) was spot on all day."

Partridge and senior Sean Madden had 4 and 2 assists, respectively. Junior Andrew Block had 3 steals.

Vernon Hills broke through the Stevenson defense just before halftime. Senior Brandon Palmer scored a pair of goals in the final 2:20 of the second quarter.

"He's one of our best shooters," coach Pat Costello said. "He has good ball placement."

Palmer's goals provided a brief lift for the Cougars.

"We'd been working hard and it was nice to have a little reward for what we were doing," Palmer said. "Stevenson has such strong swimmers, and you can't make small errors like you would against less experienced teams. This game reinforces that we have to make cleaner passes and take safer, more effective shots."

Libertyville wins twice: The Libertyville boys water polo team was a frustrated squad Thursday after losing 9-5 to Stevenson.

The Wildcats took out their frustrations Friday against host Vernon Hills and Deerfield in the Lake County tournament. Libertyville topped Vernon Hills 16-11, and the Wildcats followed that up with a 14-3 victory over Deerfield.

Libertyville (3-3) will play Barrington at 1 p.m. today at Vernon Hills with third place in the tourney on the line.

"We look forward to playing Stevenson every year and losing to them got in our heads," junior Zach Leboza said. "We really needed a good confidence boost and we played (well) today."

Added senior Reed McCann: "It was nice to bounce back with two strong games. It would feel really good to (continue) to play well and beat Barrington."

Against Deerfield, the Wildcats played a sloppy first quarter and led only 1-0. Then, they proceeded to explode for seven goals in the second quarter. The half ended on a high note when goalkeeper Jimmy Palac scored on a perfectly lofted shot.

"I was swimming down to pop up for a shot, and the next thing I knew the (referee) was holding up Jimmy's number," McCann said.

Assistant coach Sara Rogers enjoyed watching the way the Wildcats elevated their intensity in the second quarter. Head coach Jeff Arce had a prior commitment with the CATS Aquatic Swim Team.

"The boys knew they lacked energy in the first quarter," Rogers said. "They regrouped and realized what they had to do. We really hit our stride in the second quarter."

McCann, Andrew Tillmann and Peter Polanski all scored 3 goals.

"It was nice to see them accomplish in a game situation what we work on in practice," Rogers said.

Leboza (4 goals, 5 steals) turned in a huge performance in the victory over Vernon Hills. John Blankenhorn also had 4 goals, and Palac came through with 10 saves.