Girls water polo: MSL's best to meet in sectional semis at Hoffman Estates
The top two finishers in both the Mid-Suburban East and the Mid-Suburban West will meet in the semifinals of the Hoffman Estates girls water polo sectional on Friday as the top seeds advanced through Wednesday's quarterfinal games.
Conant 12, Rolling Meadows 2: Paulina Chowaniec had a team-best 3 goals and Lea Cejvan and Olivia Olszewski both scored twice to help the No. 2 seed advance at Hoffman Estates.
Maggie Goodwin had both the goals for Rolling Meadows (12-19).
Senior keeper Cam Rosas stopped 11 shots for the Cougars (20-8), and Chowaniec also had 3 steals and 2 earned ejections.
Barrington 8, Fremd 5: In the last matchup of the day, the No. 3 seed Fillies - the runner-up in the MSL West - advanced. Barrington (21-7) will meet West champ Conant in a Friday semfinal at 6 p.m.
Sixth-seeded Fremd's season ends with a record of 11-20.
Prospect 10, Elk Grove 4: The Grens stayed close early and trailed just 4-3 at the half but the top-seeded Knights were able to pull away with a 4-0 scoring edge in the third quarter.
Colleen Doyle (5 goals) and Emma Colehour (4) accounted for most of the scoring the Knights, and Mary Clare McAleer came up with 6 saves in goal.
Prospect (21-6), the MSL East champion, has tied the program record for wins in a season.
Among the leaders for Elk Grove (12-15) were Alyssa Bonilla (1 goal, 4 steals), Kate Duffy (1 goal, 2 steals), Hannah Sallenback (2 assists, 5 steals), Gillian Guerra (1 goal, 3 assists) and Abby Farmer (1 goal, 5 steals).
Hersey 8, Schaumburg 5: The fourth-seeded Huskies got a hat trick from Andie Dougherty, and Madison Burkhalter and Katie Lindgren both had 2 goals in quarterfinal play at Hoffman Estates.
Hannah Pearson scored twice and goalie Magda Jasinska stopped 9 shots for the fifth-seeded Saxons, who wrapped up their season with a record of 19-8.
Emily Van Grinsven stopped 14 shots for MSL East runner-up Hersey (20-5), which meets Prospect in Friday's 5 p.m. semifinal.
Buffalo Grove 8, Highland Park 2: Coach Jeff Skalon's fifth-seeded team sprung a first-round upset in topping the fifth-seeded Giants. Buffalo Grove (10-13) next meets top-seeded Stevenson at 5 p.m. Friday.
Mundelein 14, Palatine 4: The second-seeded Mustangs ended Palatine's season in a quarterfinal at Deerfield.
Next up for Mundelein is a 6 p.m. Friday semifinal against No. 3 seed Lake Forest.
Palatine wraps up its season with a record of 7-25.
Stevenson 18, Wheeling 2: The Deerfield sectional's top seed rolled into the semifinals, getting 5 goals from senior Claire Haas and 4 from junior Eileen Hoang.
The Patriots (29-2) will meet No. 5 seed Buffalo Grove in the first of two Friday semifinals.
Estephania Diaz and Talia Kahn each had 1 goal and Elizabeth Wargo made 12 saves as the Wildcats (5-19) wrapped up their first season under coach Jessica Xenakis.
Glenbrook South 7, Maine West 6: The Central Suburban North champs saw their season come to an end in the Glenbrook North sectional as the fifth-seeded Titans advanced to a 5 p.m. Friday semifinal against top seed New Trier.
Maine West finishes its best-ever season with a record of 24-6.