Naperville Central comes back twice against Fremd

The Naperville Central girls water polo team certainly treated assistant coach Megan Plackett to an exciting affair in her varsity coaching debut Thursday night.

Plackett, filling in for head coach Jeff Plackett, guided Naperville Central to a come-from-behind victory as the Redhawks twice erased 3-goal deficits en route to a 13-11 victory over Fremd in Naperville.

"It was so exciting," a smiling Plackett said of her first varsity coaching experience. "The girls were fantastic, they had a lot of energy, and it was fun to be part of it."

Tied at 8 after three quarters, Naperville Central finally found its rhythm, scoring the first four goals of the fourth quarter to take a 12-8 lead with 2:49 remaining.

"The girls have a lot of heart. They were really, really good on defense, and they were smart with their passes and aggressive with their shots," Plackett said. "They were fired up for today."

Naperville Central's Claire Fleming put the Redhawks on her back late in the game, scoring 4 of her team's next 8 goals after Fremd took an 8-5 lead with 3:36 left in the third quarter.

Determination and communication keyed Naperville Central's comeback, as the Redhawks rattled off 7 straight goals in just more than eight minutes to seize the lead for good.

"When you have a mission and a goal and you want to win, you'll do anything it takes to do it," Fleming said. "When we talk to each other, everything really falls into place."

Fremd's Allison McCarthy buried the Redhawks in both of their 3-goal deficits in the third quarter, scoring first with 4:18 left and answering a Naperville Central goal just 42 seconds later. The Vikings' Erica Lauraitis led all scorers with 6 goals on the night.

"We really respect the talent that Fremd has always had," Plackett said. "They're a top program, and we were excited for today's game."

According to Fremd coach Brian Newby, fatigue played a large role in the Vikings' eventual collapse.

"I think we were a little bit tired, and I want to say they probably have a little bit deeper bench than us," Newby said. "But the girls came back, scored two on them and put us back in the game within a couple minutes there.

"After three intense quarters sometimes our brains don't always do what our bodies want us to, or vice versa."

So were the Redhawks pushing extra hard to earn Plackett her first varsity victory?

"You do what you've got to do for the team," Fleming said. "Everything revolves around the team."