Saxons making waves in Classic

Waiting for their final match, the members of the Schaumburg Saxons' boys water polo team cheered wildly from the stands as Hoffman goalie Tony Biars made a highlight-reel save against Latin.

But don't be mistaken by Schaumburg's sudden burst of Mid-Suburban League West pride -- the host Saxons were far more satisfied with their own performance on Friday at the second annual Midwest Water Polo Classic.

"For a third-year program I'm very, very pleased," said Schaumburg coach Tom Gallagher, whose squad faces Mundelein today at 10:30 a.m. in the semifinals. "We're starting to learn how to play the game a little better."

After convincing victories against Hoffman (9-4) and Lindbergh (St. Louis) (12-4), the Saxons (12-2) trailed for the first time all day as Latin held a 4-3 halftime lead.

But Schaumburg rallied as juniors Mike Kehoe (10 goals on Friday) and Aaron Johnson both scored twice, and Andrew Cinelli and Chris Corbett (8 goals in the 3 wins) each tallied a goal in the final 12 minutes.

"They're a great team in the state, they're top-ranked," Corbett said following the 9-8 victory over the Romans. "To come out with a win like that kind of makes a name for us."

Senior Mark Rosenblum posted 2 first-quarter goals, while teammate Kevin Kledzik (3 goals on Friday) added a goal, 5 assists, 3 steals, a block and 4 drawn ejection fouls for Schaumburg.

Corbett's 5-goal effort and 2 from Kehoe paced the Saxons' opening-match win against Hoffman. Kledzik and Pat Kraulis each added a goal for Schaumburg, which defeated the Hawks 14-5 on March 11.

Hoffman seniors Jeff Skalon and Justin Simanis both scored twice -- but shut out in the first and fourth quarters, the Hawks (7-8) are still looking to better capitalize on scoring opportunities.

"We're still trying to find a way to work our offense," said Hoffman coach Chris Fetterman, whose team plays York today at 9:15 a.m. "We've got fast swimmers, but we're just not putting the two things together."

Hoffman went scoreless in the middle two quarters against Latin, before Josh Vanhee finally broke through for the Hawks with 3:46 remaining. But it was far too late -- Hoffman trailed 11-3.

"We played pretty good, we kind of just lost in the second half," said Simanis, who scored twice in the 14-6 loss. "We always have to work on finishing strong."

Simanis had 4 goals, Pat Mason scored twice, and Skalon added one as the Hawks defeated Lindbergh 9-5 in their final match of pool play.

In Pool B, Conant settled for a tie with York in its opening match after letting a 5-1 third-quarter lead evaporate. After senior Mike Varga (6 goals on Friday) scored his fourth goal 1:42 into the third quarter, York responded with 4 unanswered goals. Blaine Grzegorek gave Conant a 6-5 lead with 1:42 left, but York tied it as Jake Comerci drilled a shot into the top left corner with five seconds remaining.

"We kind of fell apart," said Grzegorek, a senior. "I think we were just tired. (York) had a lot of endurance."

With less than 20 minutes to recuperate, the Cougars (9-3-1) faced a Mundelein squad coming off a 9-2 loss to defending tournament champion St. Louis U. High.

The Mustangs unknotted a 1-1 first-quarter tie as Pat Falconer, Mike Mihel, Mike McClure and T.J. Klink (3 goals in pool play) all scored in the second quarter.

"Once we started getting the hang of (our passing), we did pretty well," said senior Ricky Lukacs, who scored 3 of his 4 goals in the second half as the Mustangs won 9-4. "We had our counter working…it all worked out."

Not so much against the two-time defending Missouri state champs. Mundelein led 2-1 following first-quarter goals from Klink and Mike Begrowicz (3 goals Friday), but the Jr. Billikens, winners of 34 straight heading into Friday's tourney, had too much firepower as John Heafner and Michael O'Neill each tallied 4 goals.

"They're the No. 1-ranked team in Missouri, and I thought it was great defensive game," said Mundelein coach Rahul Sethna. "The problem for us defensively was that we had to play too much (defense) because we were playing such bad offense."

Mundelein (9-3) finished pool play 2-1 with an 8-4 win against York. Lukacs scored his fifth and sixth goals of the day, and Falconer added a pair in the Mustangs' win.

Senior Chris Emery scored 4 goals for the Cougars as they finished off pool play with an 11-7 loss to SLUH.

"We played some very good teams…I think they learned from it, and we're going to be a better team out of this," said Conant coach Erik Hauser. "We'll come back tomorrow and hopefully get a couple of wins."

Conant and York tied with 0-2-1 records and 26 goals allowed in pool play, so based on a 17-12 goals-scored edge, the Cougars took third in Pool B and will face Lindbergh today at 8 a.m. with a berth in the fifth-place game at stake.