Mundelein gets by Stevenson

Mundelein’s 6-foot freshman Karrie Kozokar, wisely, looks up to senior Alexis Jones, even if she might be slightly taller than the Mustangs’ star water polo player.

So, while Kozokar’s swim cap concealed it, rest assured her ears perked when Jones gave her some advice during the Mustangs’ match with host Stevenson on Thursday.

“She was shooting it at the goalie,” Jones said. “She has a really strong shot so we told her to do a cross to the other side of the goal. She has the hardest shot.”

Kozokar showed off her rocket right arm late in the fourth period, going cross-cage to score the winning goal in Mundelein’s 5-4 win. Kozokar whipped in a shot from several yards out from the right side of the pool with 3:23 left, just eight seconds after Samantha Petti’s second goal pulled Stevenson even.

“I listened to her,” a smiling Kozokar said of Jones.

Kozokar’s shot was partially deflected by a Stevenson field player and found the far corner of the net, eluding Patriots goalie Lisa Michalowski (15 saves), who was equally as stellar as her counterpart, Mundelein first-team all-stater Emily Tylka.

“I just shot hard,” Kozokar said.

“She’s got a cannon,” Tylka said of her young teammate. “You don’t even know it’s there until it’s in the goal.”

Mundelein improved to 7-1, while Stevenson fell to 3-3.

“Hats off to Mundelein,” Patriots coach Jeff Wimer said. “Drew (Schneider) is a great coach and they have a real good core of kids.”

Few players in the state are better than Mundelein’s Jones, who continued her early-season brilliance by notching 3 goals, hiking her eight-game total to 32. The senior, who will play for Indiana University next year, had 142 tallies as a junior.

So it was surprising when the sniper missed a penalty shot late in the third period with the score tied 3-3.

In this case, Jones then listened to Tylka.

“She told me to come back and get revenge,” Jones said with a laugh.

Jones did.

With 52 seconds left in the third, Jones was awarded another penalty shot and pierced the left corner of the net, breaking the tie.

“I didn’t plan what I was going to do,” Jones said. “I just fired it off.

“Actually, I don’t have very good luck with the penalty shots,” she added. “Penalty shots aren’t my thing. I over-think it. I just need to calm down and let it happen.”

Goals by Jones and Sarah Honda had Mundelein up 3-2 at the break.

Tylka preserved Mundelein’s win by blocking several point-blanks shots late. She finished with 22 saves.

“(The win) just says a lot because (Stevenson) is always a really good team,” Tylka said. “We really respect them because they have great water polo.”

Like Petti, Erin McCook, a transfer from California, had 2 goals for Stevenson. Karen Lowry and Cheyenne Montijo notched 2 assists apiece. Tori St. John collected 5 steals.

“I don’t mind losing now, as long as we’re learning and progressing during the season,” Wimer said. “From our first game, we’ve already progressed quite a bit.”