Sandburg’s 2nd half ices Fremd
For a couple of hours on Thursday, Fremd’s boys water polo team watched a movie about athletes shocking the world on frozen water.
The Vikings gathered at a house to watch “Miracle,” the inspiring flick about the U.S. hockey team’s improbable run to the gold medal at the 1980 Olympics.
“I had never seen it,” said Fremd senior utility Andre Degla.
Fremd’s boys program had never made an appearance at the state tournament — until Thursday afternoon at Stevenson. The Vikings faced Sandburg’s Eagles in a quarterfinal.
Alas, nobody screamed, “Do you believe in miracles!?” as time melted toward 0:00 in the day’s first quarterfinal in Lincolnshire. Fremd fell 11-5 after Fremd junior utility JP French scored the game’s first 3 goals.
“As soon as that third one went in, I was thinking, ‘Wow,’” said Degla. “That got our fans going, got them really loud. It was great to hear all that support for us.”
Fremd led 2-0 after one quarter. The Mid-Suburban League champs then gained a 3-0 advantage at 6:31 of the second quarter.
“We weren’t passing well at all in the first quarter,” said Eagles coach Jim Caliendo, whose 28-6 crew faces Lyons Township (32-2) in a state semifinal at 9 a.m. Saturday. “Passing — that was mostly what we talked about in between quarters.”
Sandburg’s actions in the water spoke volumes in the second quarter. The Eagles poured in four unanswered goals to take a 4-3 lead at the break. Two were tallied by senior driver Anthony Bopnar, who had struggled (2-for-11 shooting) in Saturday’s 11-10 defeat of Stagg in a sectional final.
“He was down on himself after that game,” recalled Caliendo. “But he came up big for us today, so big. Once we scored our first goal, we settled down.”
The second half Thursday was “The Matt Veldman Show.” The Sandburg senior driver chucked 6 of his 7 goals then, including all 4 of the victors’ tallies in the fourth quarter. Patience on offense and highly effective passes also helped lefty-heavy Sandburg take control.
“They have a couple of key guys,” said Vikes first-year boys coach Brian Newby, who guided the school’s girls water polo team to four straight Elite Eight appearance from 2008-11. “They’re great kids, hard to cover. They had the shots and they shot well.”
Sophomore driver Luke Stark and senior driver Josh Ostman scored Fremd’s other two goals, and Vikings senior goalkeeper Max Plichta made 16 saves.
Senior driver Ryan Helsdingen played stellar defense and provided 2 assists for Fremd (26-7). Fremd senior Austin Smock contributed an assist.
“I was very proud of the boys when we went up 3-0,” said Newby. “We played as hard as we could for as long as we could. We showed a lot of heart out there.”
Degla finished as Fremd’s leading scorer (83 goals) and paced the team in assists (44) in 2012. French’s chapeau trick Thursday upped his goal total to 71.
“A great group of guys,” French said of his team. “There were ups and downs this season, mostly ups. It was exciting being here and being a part of program history.”