St. Viator holds off up-and-coming Elk Grove

This was not the same Elk Grove girls water polo program these St. Viator seniors remember from three seasons ago.

Not even close.

Leading by as many as 4 goals in the third quarter, the visiting Lions (4-5) needed a goal from senior Lisa Torii with 38 seconds left to hold off the Grenadiers 9-8 on Monday night.

"I totally respect how much better (Elk Grove) has gotten," said Torii, who scored a hat trick. "It's amazing, compared to my freshman year."

After a strong-side goal from Laura Wasmund gave St. Viator a commanding 7-3 third-quarter lead, seemingly the biggest obstacle in front of the Lions was the traffic back to their Arlington Heights campus.

But the Grens (0-7) started to chip away as Christine Miller fired in a shot past goalie Cara George with 7.7 seconds left in the period.

"They didn't panic, they didn't start to throw the ball away, and they stayed control," said Elk Grove coach Dave Toler.

Namely Lisa Andrews.

The Indiana-bound senior notched her third goal with just 49 seconds elapsed in the fourth, then added another 3:20 later as she lofted a perfect drop shot over the extended right hand of George.

"I know they wanted to win really bad -- so they kept shooting repeatedly," joked George, who stopped 10 of 12 first-quarter shots.

Senior Danielle Volpi gave the Lions some breathing room with her fifth goal as St. Viator grabbed a 8-6 lead with 2:37 left.

But Elk Grove rallied as goaltender Michelle Mann floated a pass to Andrews, who fought off Torii 2 meters out and notched her fifth goal with 1:45 remaining.

"(Andrews) didn't have as much speed as she normally had (slightly pulled groin), so she had to just pick and choose a little more when she moved and when she took her sprints," Toler said.

Mann connected with Miller on another outstanding pass, and Miller skirted a shot into the bottom left corner -- her third goal -- as the Grens tied it at 8-8 with 43 seconds left.

"We were so close and we just went for it," Andrews said.

But so did Torii. After missing the previous two games because of a right thumb injury suffered against New Trier, she scored the game-winner five seconds later on a shot from 7 meters out.

"As soon as I pushed off the wall I was like, 'Oh wow, this is my first game again,' " Torii said. "It was first-game jitters."

Something St. Viator coach Adam Clementi didn't see from the Grens.

"Four years ago when they started their team, the Elk Grove girls were swimming the wrong direction," Clementi said. "Dave (Toler) has done a fantastic job with their program. He has really given them a game-sense."