Curia, Naperville North advance to state

There had to be at least a little doubt on Naperville North’s side when perennial state contender Naperville Central closed to within one goal twice in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s boys water polo sectional final.

Even so, it turned out that this year was indeed the Huskies’ time.

The Huskies, who had already beaten the Redhawks (22-11) three times during the regular season, were looking to advance to state for just the third time in the school’s history, but first they had to hold off a Redhawks team that has made a habit of winning sectionals in recent years. Naperville Central did close to within 8-7 and 9-8 in the fourth, but the Eric Curia-led Huskies would not be done in and used a strong finish to prevail 13-8.

“As soon as it got close we got more and more fired up,” said Curia, who led all scorers with 9 goals on Saturday. “My teammates got me the ball, and with a great shot always comes great assists.”

The Huskies used their speed for quick counters and often used some quick passes to get Curia, the school’s single-season goal record-holder, great looks at the net. With Curia scoring twice it was 3-1 Naperville North (30-3) after one period, and then the Huskies led 6-3 at the half following a breakaway goal from Jacob Thompson.

But Naperville Central, led by three goals apiece from TJ Johnson and Matt Reasons, made things interesting with a strong second half. Reasons cut the Huskies’ lead to 8-7 with 5:28 left to play, and it was 9-8 following a Reasons power-play score with 4:25 left.

But Curia countered with a goal with an extra attacker to make it 10-8 and then tallied the match’s final three goals thanks in large part to some great feeds from Gianmarco Duin. With Curia notching the game’s final four goals, the Huskies had a 13-8 victory and now head to the state tournament next weekend where multiple-champion Fenwick will be missing after a loss Saturday to Lyons Township.

“I guess someone else will take the throne,” Curia said. “I hope it’s us.”

But the 30-3 Huskies, who have lost twice to Lyons Twp. this spring, will face solid competition beginning this Thursday at state even without Fenwick there. “It’s exciting,” said Naperville North coach John Blumthal, who played on the Huskies’ 2003 state-qualifying team. “We were planning to play Fenwick (at state), but Lyons is a great team that plays a similar game.”

Naperville Central coach Bill Salentine said his team struggled at key times on Saturday but also struggled throughout to match Curia’s speed.

“We made some bad passes, we turned the ball over and we got burned on some counter attacks,” he said. “That’s all she wrote.”