Naperville Central patiently gets past Mundelein

A fast start by Mundelein did not faze Naperville Central on Friday night in the girls water polo state tournament at Stevenson.

The Mustangs (27-7) jumped ahead of the Redhawks on a goal by Evelyn Kurzac just 1:37 into the quarterfinal contest. But Naperville Central (30-4) scored 4 unanswered goals en route to a 7-4 victory in the defensive struggle.

The Redhawks advanced to the semifinals Saturday at 12:45 p.m. against undefeated Lyons (33-0), which rolled past New Trier 11-3. Homewood-Flossmoor meets St. Ignatius in the other semifinal, at 11:30 a.m.

Junior Laura Vallo tied the game 1-1 just 12 seconds after Mundelein's first goal.

Sophomore Abbey Kerth proved to be a huge factor for the Redhawks with 4 goals overall. Her first score made the score 2-1 before she got her own rebound and fired a shot past goalkeeper Emily Tylka for a 3-1 lead with 3:33 left in the first quarter.

Then, in the second quarter, Naperville Central sophomore Emily Sejna fired home a shot from the point after some quick passing, and the Redhawks led 4-1 with 3:23 left in the period.

"It was such a team effort and we wanted to play really hard at the beginning and it carried through the whole game," Kerth said. "I think our shots were really good and we were really patient."

Mundelein stayed within striking distance when junior Alexis Jones threw a shot past goalkeeper Julia Campbell from deep on the right side to cut the gap to 4-2 with 1:41 left in the second period.

But Kerth's third goal, assisted by Sejna from close range 20 seconds into the third quarter, boosted the Redhawks' lead back to 5-2.

That proved to be the only goal of the third quarter as both teams struggled to generate much offense.

Kurzac made a nice move and scored her second goal with a left-handed shot into the left corner of the net to make the score 5-3 with 5:10 to play.

But after a timeout, Sejna scored a key insurance goal from the point to give the Redhawks a 6-3 cushion with 4:20 remaining.

"We struggled to play catch-up all night, our shooting was not as good as it should have been, and we just couldn't put it away," said Mundelein coach Andrew Schneider. "I thought the whole game was a defensive struggle, and they did a good job on Kurzac and Jones."

Kerth grabbed Tori Davis' rebound and scored for a 7-3 lead with 2:16 left. Jones closed out the scoring on a goal with 1:35 to go.

"Abbey (Kerth) played a great game, but it was not necessarily different than what she has been doing all season," said Naperville Central coach Jeff Plackett. "You had two very evenly matched teams, and a quick 4-goal swing is good, but it didn't make us feel any better at that point of the game."