Top seeds deliver at Barrington
Top-seeded Schaumburg (22-8) rolled into Friday’s 7 p.m. Barrington sectional semifinal behind 7 goals from Mike Gergen, 3 from Randy Carr and 2 from Alex Koehl in a 17-5 victory over Prospect on Thursday.
Prospect (7-18) got 2 goals from Will Schiavone and Matt Forssander.
Fremd 12, Hoffman Estates 6: The No. 4 seed Vikings (11-15) stopped the fifth-seeded Hawks to earn a spot in sectional semifinal play against Schaumburg at 7 p.m. Friday. Andre Degla had 4 goals and Phil Schroeder 3 for Fremd; Adam Pasnicki scored twice for Hoffman Estates (13-15).
Conant 15, Barrington 3: The No. 3 seed Cougars (18-12) had no trouble getting past the hosts and earning a semifinal berth at 8:15 p.m. Friday against St. Viator. Eight players scored for Conant.
St. Viator 14, Hersey 6: The No. 2 seed Lions (20-10) topped their rival and advanced to face Conant in sectional semifinal play Friday.
Vernon Hills sectional
Nobody called the U.S. Coast Guard near the end of a Vernon Hills boys water polo sectional quarterfinal Thursday night.
But it would have been a good idea, had fourth-seeded Libertyville and fifth-seeded Wheeling been forced to play another overtime.
“My legs? I couldn’t feel them at the end,” Libertyville senior Ian Kinsella, weary and relieved, said. “I was too tired.”
The game? Too thrilling.
Too dangerously exhausting for those wearing polo caps.
The game-winner in Libertyville’s 8-7 victory wasn’t scored until midway through the fifth OT.
Kinsella, after receiving a pass from classmate Mitch Boynton in the sudden-death session, ended the watery marathon with a right-handed cross-face shot. It beat sensational Wheeling goalkeeper Shane McDade, a 6-foot-4, 200-pound senior who amassed 23 saves (8 in the third quarter) and should seriously considering enlisting in the USCG.
Libertyville (16-15) faces top-seeded Palatine (26-4) in a sectional semifinal today at 7 p.m.
“(McDade) is the best goalie in the sectional, in my opinion,” said Libertyville coach Ivan Munoz, whose own keeper, junior Clayton Kullander (15 saves), also elicited crowd buzzes after making clutch stops.
“(McDade),” he added, “has such a sense for the ball … such a pure sense for it.”
Junior Tommy Keefe scored Libertyville’s other 3 goals, including the final one in regulation, at 3:13 of the fourth quarter.
Wheeling (21-7) had scored the first 2 goals of the final frame. Senior Dan Kubeck (4 goals), a marvelous menace on defense all night, struck for a power-play goal after junior teammate Ben Reiff had tied it 6-6 at the 4:40 mark.
“A tough game to lose,” said Means. “Really tough. Both teams were dead-tired at the end, and both teams played incredibly well. Both teams … evenly matched. Hey, it was a four (seed) against a five (seed), right?”
Ÿ Kamil Mulawa had 7 goals, Justin Behrens 5, John Giuliano 4, Dylan Weissmann 3 and Christian Kalfas 2 as top-seeded Palatine (24-5) cruised past Lake Forest 21-4 and into a 7 p.m. Friday semifinal against Libertyville.
Buffalo Grove (16-13) bowed out with an 18-4 loss to No. 2 seed McHenry (27-4). Ian Rodriguez had 3 goals for the Bison and Justin MacIsaac had 1.