Scouting the Elite Eight

Girls water polo / Elite Eight scouting

Tournament timetable

At Stevenson High School

Friday’s state quarterfinals: Stevenson (25-8) vs. St. Ignatius (20-6-1), 4:30 p.m.; Mother McAuley (25-7-1) vs. Naperville Central (31-2), 5:45 p.m.; Fenwick (29-3) vs. Fremd (27-5), 7 p.m.; New Trier (26-5-1) vs. Lincoln-Way Central (22-9), 8:15 p.m.

Saturday’s schedule: Semifinals at 11:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.; third place at 5 p.m. and championship at 8 p.m.

Big picture

Last year’s state runner-up, tournament host Stevenson, made it through the sectional in style and appears to have the opportunity for another return to Saturday play behind standout scorers Erin McCook (87 goals) and Cami Hass (57 goals), playmaker Rachel Lauter (41 assists) and top-notch goalkeeper Lisa Michalowski. It’s the Patriots’ eighth appearance in the last nine state finals. The losses for St. Ignatius are all ‘good’ ones — to Fenwick (thrice), McAuley (twice) and New Trier (once). The Wolfpack has 40-plus goal-scorers and has excelled at winning by 2- and 3-goal margins. Last year’s fourth-place finisher, Mother McAuley, is another team with great scoring balance, and five of its seven losses came to teams playing in the Elite Eight. But one of those Mighty Macs’ losses was a 12-3 decision to juggernaut Naperville Central. The Redhawks feature senior scoring machine Abbey Kerth (125 goals) and standout senior Emily Sejna (67 goals, 63 assists). The 2010 state champs, who have qualified for the Elite Eight for a fifth straight year under coach Jeff Plackett, have also had great contributions from senior goalkeeper Julia Campbell, senior driver Lauren Gunn (49 goals, 17 assists) and junior drivers Madison Nervig (41 goals, 24 assists) and Erin Reagan (31 goals, 46 assists). Defending champion Fenwick earned a 1-goal win over Lyons in the York sectional final and has assembled another impressive resume. The only losses for Friars, who are led by sophomore Cara Borkovec (82 goals) and senior Maureen Barron (63 goals), have been to Naperville Central, Lyons and a team from Michigan. Fremd has lost twice to Fenwick, but there was a big improvement between games. In the first meeting March 17, the Vikings lost 10-3; in the second May 9, it was a 13-9 game. The Vikes are a senior-dominated team hungry for a trophy after 1-goal losses in the quarterfinals each of the past two seasons. Fremd qualified for the Elite Eight for a fifth straight season. Lincoln-Way Central, meanwhile, makes its first Elite Eight appearance. The Tigers are led by junior Danijela Jackovich (146 goals, 77 assists) but have drawn a tough foe in New Trier (26-5-1). Senior Isabelle Baneaux generates a ton of offense (87 goals, 110 assists) and junior Alexana Astor (84 goals) is also an elite scorer. The Trevians breezed to the Central Suburban League title and won comfortably at the Glenbrook South sectional.

Local focus

Fremd, led by first-year varsity coach Ray Roth, has all the ingredients you’d expect to see in a team playing in the final four on Saturday: proven seniors everywhere, a commitment to defense, excellent teamwork and a first-rate goalkeeper in Julie Conrath. With Sam del Prado scoring and distributing from the offensive hole and Lauren Zambelli and Sam Matuszewski making oppenents pay for double teams on the wing, Fremd is an efficient offensive team. Great depth is supplied by players such as Emily McCarthy, Taylor Spoonholtz, Carly Gessert, Breanna Anderson, Amy McEllen, KC Hutmacher, Erika Wickstrom and Sam DiCanio. Only one problem with all this — Fremd’s quarterfinal foe, Fenwick, is clearly one of the state’s best teams. Roth and Co. welcome the challenge. “First, the team is excited to play Fenwick. We have played them twice this season, and the second time the team’s performance improved significantly. The team knows that this will be their hardest game, but all the pressure is on Fenwick.” The Vikings have been led in scoring by Zambelli (65 goals, 48 assists), Matuszewski (61 goals) and del Prado (54 goals). Those three have each been key figures the last three seasons and are familiar with the Elite Eight setting. “It is a plus that a majority of the team has been to state the past three years,” said Roth, “so the limelight shouldn’t really play too big of a factor. The team realizes that they have to play tough defense and smart and patient offense. Regardless of the outcome Friday night, I am extremely proud and very pleased with the performance of this year’s team. If everything lines up Friday night we could have one more day of playing on Saturday.”

— Aaron Gabriel