Wheeling's girls, Saxons boys clinch

Wheeling's girls water polo team considered its victory at Buffalo Grove on Tuesday as further evidence that the team has truly arrived.

"Hey," said senior driver Liseli Baich, "we're making history here."

True enough. Wheeling's 10-2 triumph at BG clinched a tight divisional race against Prospect, making this the first water polo team from Wheeling to win any kind of Mid-Suburban League crown.

Hersey edged Prospect 6-3 on Tuesday to help assure the Wildcats (17-3, 9-1) of their East title. Wheeling visits Fremd next Wednesday for the MSL championship game.

"It just feels like vindication for us in a way," said Wheeling coach Bob Savitt, who has helped guide the Wildcats through the process of splitting apart what had a been a formidable Wheeling/Prospect co-op team called the WildKnights. "This tells the girls they've really arrived."

Thanks in no small part to the goalkeeping of Kaitlyn Webb. She helped keep Buffalo Grove scoreless through the first half with a variety of impressive saves. Add in a 4-goal effort from hole set Amy Wilson and 2 more from Christa Khatcherian, and the Wildcats were comfortably ahead 6-1 by the end of the third period.

Buffalo Grove coach Shayna Mortenson graduated 14 players from last year's team and has seen a promising group of young players learning as they go. But Tuesday's game had special importance for key senior leaders such as Erin Rodriguez, Julie Rossberger, Erica Brask and goalkeeper Jess Lundin, who also got to play the field for a change.

"I think our kids have done a really good job," said Mortenson. "I've seen them understand what we're trying to do here, and I've seen real progress between the first time we've played people and the next time."

Schaumburg 13, Barrington 10: The visiting Saxons wrapped up the MSL West boys title by edging the second-place Broncos. Chris Corbett, Aaron Johnson and Brandon Kase each had 3 goals for Schaumburg (25-2, 10-0). Mike Byron led the way for Barrington with 4 goals.