Naperville Central 6, Neuqua Valley 5

Naperville North senior Kelly Gibson had the outcome of Tuesday's girls water polo game flying straight at her.

With her team holding a 1-goal lead inside of a minute, Gibson stopped a pair of open Neuqua Valley attackers, including a breakaway opportunity, allowing her team to hang on for a 6-5 victory in Naperville.

Gibson played well all game, making 10 saves for the Huskies and contributing to the team's overall winning mindset.

"I think we just kept a positive attitude. I guess it helped us keep up the momentum and stuff," Gibson said. "We didn't go into the last quarter saying we're going to lose; we went into it saying we're going to win, and it really helped us in the end."

"Kelly continues to be an outstanding goalie for us," Naperville North coach Andy McWhirter said. "She's a good thinking goalie … she's not only good in the net, but she's willing to swim out for that ball and steal the ball away from the girls coming in."

The Huskies (5-12) headed to the final quarter leading 6-4, thanks to senior Anna Pisarcik's backhand goal that gave Naperville North a spiritual lift.

"Another asset today was Anna Pisarcik getting a couple goals for us," McWhirter said. "That great backhand caught everybody off guard there in the third quarter, so that was outstanding.

"That shot helped with the momentum, and in high school sports, it's about the enthusiasm and the momentum. That backhand-type of score gets everybody on the bench all excited."

Neuqua Valley (6-6-1) opened up a 3-1 lead right as the first quarter expired on Jenn Rinehart's second goal of the game. However, the Wildcats could only muster two more scores the rest of the way, as the absence of several varsity players due to spring break began to make a difference.

"We had a bunch of JV girls up playing with us, which is great experience for them," Neuqua Valley coach Len DePasquale said. "I think that we have a great future ahead of us, we have a great bench, and we definitely have people we can rely on and count on."

Though the Wildcats had their share of chances at the end, DePasquale would rather have his team press harder at the outset of the game.

"The whole idea is that we can't leave it down to the last two minutes of the game. We need to be ready the entire time," he said. "It's kind of tough being the shallow-deep, but that's not an excuse."