Girls water polo / Scouting Lake County
Vernon Hills girls water polo coach Shona Moeller needed only three syllables to explain why Stevenson will be strong again in 2012.
“Jeff Wimer,” she said of the Patriots’ coach, who guided Stevenson to state runner-up honors last spring.
She then elaborated.
“You can’t mess with 25 years of coaching experience,” Moeller said.
It is actually 23 years. But the perpetually exuberant Wimer, Stevenson’s 15th-year coach after a highly successful run as Mundelein’s girls coach in the 1990s, first played the sport when he was 6.
It was love at first skip shot and he probably perfected the “egg-beater,” a form of treading water in polo, in no time.
“I have always enjoyed water polo, everything about it,” said Wimer. “Especially teaching it to the players and working with the players.”
He lost some serious players to graduation last spring. Karen Lowry amassed 94 goals and 68 assists for Stevenson’s 27-9 club in ’11. Cheyenne Montijo (90 goals, 58 assists), Sam Petti (42 goals, 23 assists) and defender Shelby Kohalmy also concluded their careers in last year’s 9-6 loss to Fenwick in the state championship game at Stevenson’s natatorium.
“We lost a ton of firepower,” Wimer said. “But guess what? The girls we have back this year practiced against that firepower all last year. They’re hungry and they know they have a big challenge ahead of them.”
Wimer’s crew won six of its first seven games this spring, with the lone setback an 8-5 decision against Mother McAuley in the Stevenson Tournament final March 10. Senior co-captains Erin McCook and Lisa Michalowski, a top-notch goalkeeper, have looked sharp in the early going. McCook (39 goal and 35 assists in ’11) poured in 5 goals in an 11-4 win over Oak Park-River Forest on March 15.
Pats senior driver Cami Haas netted 5 goals while junior driver Jenna Oliver had 3 in a 13-4 win over York the previous day. Senior driver/2-meter defender Tori St. John delivered 30 assists to go with 18 goals as an all-stater a year ago.
Stevenson beat Mundelein 9-5 in a sectional final a year ago. Mustangs coach Andrew Schneider, who succeeded Wimer at MHS 15 years ago, gets to deploy a formidable force in sophomore Karrie Kozokar. In a 21-6 defeat of Palatine on March 6, Kozokar chucked 10 goals. Classmate Allie Boothe tallied 3.
“Their motors never stop on offense and on defense,” Schneider said of Kozokar and Boothe after his team went 1-3 at last weekend’s Naperville Central Invite.
Junior utility player/goalie Michelle Barron and senior driver Amanda Boothe are serving as Mundelein’s co-captains. Schneider called Barron “a gamer.” Many of senior Megan Casali’s steals led to goals last weekend. Among Schneider’s other reliable Mustangs are seniors Amy Klink (hole defense) and Alyssa Garcia (driver), junior Kasia Wienckowski (utility) and sophomore Anna Ward (goalie).
Vernon Hills’ goalie, junior tri-captain Sabrina Counselbaum, secured 17 saves in a win over Maine South on March 12. Moeller’s club, featuring five new starters, won its first four games after losing nine seniors to graduation in ’11. VH reached a sectional semifinal last spring and finished with a 13-7 record.
“They’re surprising me all over the place,” said Moeller, the Cougars’ fifth-year coach. “It’s hard to coach communication. Our girls are all communicating so well and reading each other’s moves so well, and they’ve been doing those things since the start of our first game.”
The Cougars’ other two tri-captains are seniors Anna Lebiedzinski (hole set) and Dana Andrea (utility), an all-state pick a year ago.
“Dana is a firecracker, extremely explosive in the water,” said Moeller. “Every movement is crisp and clean. She is strong and fast and so technically sound.”
VH senior driver Anne Fan scored three goals and had a pair of steals in a 10-5 defeat of Maine East on March 14.
Libertyville’s Wildcats won their first two games this spring by a combined 31-18, including an 18-8 rout of Deerfield. Senior hole set and co-captain Samantha Voelker paces the team with 10 goals, followed by senior driver Katelyn Liss (6).
“Sam is a great student of the game and she’s willing to take any kind of input,” said Wildcats fourth-year coach Chris Crawford, who welcomed back six starters from last spring’s unit. “She is constantly striving to become the best player she can be.”
Libertyville’s other co-captain is Julie Ahlgrim, a 2-meter defender. Senior Melanie Eichhorn, junior Molly Bruns and sophomore Devika Joshi are drivers. Junior Emily Poliarny starts as a goalkeeper.
A couple of Crawford’s Wildcats, senior drivers Lily Nedland and Anna Gottfried, have been invaluable and ideal teammates.
“They are good at keeping things light and keeping everybody grounded,” he said. “Without them around, our team’s mentality would change. It wouldn’t be where it has to be. They’ve been great.”
Crawford’s girls last spring too often looked to pass first, shoot second.
“That was an issue,” recalled Crawford. “Not anymore. I like how our girls are looking to shoot first this year.”
Skip shots: Mundelein’s girls polo team, like the school’s boys squad, has to practice at Stevenson, Warren and Vernon Hills this spring because the Mustangs’ pool is being reconfigured. “I don’t even talk at our practices,” Schneider said. “There’s not enough time for that. Our players get in the pool and go.” … Wimer has coached four Patriots squads to state appearances. His ’08 team took third. … Stevenson’s McCook scored a goal in last year’s state championship game. Lowry beat Fenwick’s keeper three times. … Stevenson’s Michalowski made 14 saves in an 8-7 OT defeat of Naperville Central in a state quarterfinal last year. … Wimer’s career record at Stevenson, through seven games this spring, is 249-118-1. He coached Mundelein girls teams to three state titles (’94, ’96 and ’97) before water polo became an IHSA sport in ’02. His ’96 Mustangs team went 36-0.
Quote-worthy: “I was beyond humbled.” — Vernon Hills’ Moeller, on sharing tri-sectional coach of the year honors with Stevenson’s Wimer and Mundelein’s Schneider last spring.