Peterson's 6 goals help power St. Charles North boys to win

To say there isn't any boys water polo tradition in St. Charles is unfair, because the city's two schools have been playing the sport for a few years.

But to this point, neither team has had tremendous success playing the sport. But that may starting to change, especially on the North side of town but also at St. Charles East.

The two St. Charles schools met for their annual crosstown showdown on Thursday, and St. Charles North led from start to finish and claimed a 13-8 victory.

"It's a great accomplishment to come over here and to beat East on their turf," St. Charles North senior Alex Peterson said. "We were really pumped to play against a good team. They're pretty even to us and it was a great game."

Peterson scored six of hit team's goals, including the game-opening goal just moments into the first quarter. Justin Jacobson added 4 goals for the North Stars (4-6), who led 5-1 after one quarter and 9-3 at halftime.

"We have a successful water polo coach (Chris Cloy), who wants to build a program over time," Peterson said. "We have the leadership and everything we need. This is also the first time when we've had enough people to have a full varsity and a full JV team."

Peterson said he has benefited immensely from Cloy's instruction. A senior, Peterson is looking at some schools for water polo as well as swimming as he makes his final college choice.

"(Cloy's) taught me how to keep my hips up, how to spin around guys and how to not struggle for position all the time," Peterson said.

St. Charles East's coach is former swimming team member Kyle Lauterer, who played water polo at Michigan State. And there is talent in the water at St. Charles East (1-6) as well. The Saints made a comeback in the third quarter and closed to 10-8 at one point. Shane Seuschek and Nick Lauf led St. Charles East with 4 goals apiece.

"I think we did pretty well for a bunch of guys who've never played polo before," Seuschek said. "I think we did awesome. There are still some things we can work on. But all in all, I think we did great."

Water polo is still a sport primarily played by athletes whose main sport is swimming. Water polo allows a break in the swimming season and also allows for some of the in-game teamwork that swimming does not have as a component.

"It's a different transition," Seuschek said. "Swimming is swimming while water polo is swimming more with your head out of the water. It's a lot of fun passing the ball back and forth and getting the strategies going to beat the other team. It's intense."

Lauf is a senior who said he enjoys playing St. Charles North every year.

"It's always competitive," Lauf said. "We lost, but we played awesome. We lost it in a little bit in the first half, but we came back in the second half."