Mundelein gives champ St. Louis U. a Classic battle

Mundelein knew the daunting task it faced when the Mustangs met the St. Louis U. High Jr. Billikens in the championship game of the Midwest Water Polo Classic.

A two-time defending Missouri state champion. A 38-match winning streak. A team that had outscored its 7 opponents this season 92-20.

But the Mustangs (10-4) weren't about to roll over and watch idly as SLUH collected its second consecutive tournament title at Schaumburg. They were going to give the Jr. Billikens something to remember on their 5-hour drive home Saturday night.

"I just told their coach (Rahul Sethna), I'm glad we don't play you again," SLUH coach Paul Baudendistel said after his team's 9-5 victory. "His players just don't quit. The fourth quarter, they're taking it to us in the last two minutes. It's something our guys can definitely learn from."

But scoring in bunches may not be a lesson his squad will take from the Mustangs. It took Mundelein 11:01 to score as Will Davidson finally found the back of the net.

"We're not one of those teams that's going to beat a team 16-3," Sethna said laughing. "We beat teams because we're going to play defense the whole time and we're going to limit your opportunities to score on us. And we usually find ways, when we win games, to score goals."

Ricky Lukacs (9 goals in the tournament) scored for the Mustangs, as did Pat Falconer, Zach Purol and Mike Begrowicz.

"We need to get our offensive rhythm going," said Begrowicz, who notched his eighth goal of the tournament 3:46 into the second half.

Despite the Mustangs' fourth loss in seven matches, including 2 defeats to SLUH and 1 to St. Louis-area powerhouse De Smet on Wednesday, Mundelein is still confident in its formula for success this season.

"This tournament was good for us in that we got back to playing defense first and limiting other team's opportunities," said Sethna, whose team defeated Schaumburg 8-5 in the semifinals on Saturday.

After going 3-for-3 in pool play, the host Saxons (12-4) lost both of their matches on Saturday, including a 6-4 setback to Latin in the third-place game.

"Our defense was tremendous," said Schaumburg coach Tom Gallagher, whose team took sixth in the tournament last season. "We've just got to start converting offensively."

Junior Neal Salemi (12 saves) was amazing in goal for Schaumburg, but the description of the Saxons' offense would be far less flattering.

Following a goal by junior Chris Corbett 13 seconds into the match, Schaumburg went 10:08 before Mike Kehoe (14 goals in the tourney) gave his team a 2-1 lead. And after that score, the Saxons endured a 8:50 scoreless stretch before junior Anthony Darovec converted from 2 meters out in the third quarter.

"If you go that long without scoring it's going to hurt you," said Kehoe, who added his second goal 10 seconds into the fourth quarter on a 6-on-5.

So are 13 turnovers on 10 errant passes for the Saxons. But overall, Schaumburg felt the two-day tournament was a success.

"I think we're probably better than we thought we were," Kehoe said. "Two days of all water polo and watching other teams, I think we became a better team."

Latin's Grant Wilkie, who scored 4 in Friday's 9-8 loss to Schaumburg, scored a pair of goals in the first half to lead the Romans (3-2).

After dropping a 7-6 decision to Lindbergh (St. Louis) in its early-Saturday matchup, Conant rallied with a 10-6 win against Hoffman for seventh place. Senior Mike Varga scored 4 of his 6 goals in the second half as the Cougars (10-4-1) improved to 1-3-1 in the tournament.

"We played some tougher teams so it was nice to get some experience," said Varga, who led the squad with 14 goals during the two-day event. "This is going to be like sectionals where you've got a game every day. It's pretty much good endurance and it gets you ready for that mind-set."

Senior Justin Simanis (12 goals in the tournament) scored a hat trick to pace Hoffman (7-10).