Girls water polo: Naperville North stops Naperville Central
The quick start by Naperville Central's girls water polo team Tuesday night is something we've seen quite a bit the last few seasons, but what happened next was indeed quite a surprise.
Naperville North defeated Naperville Central 11-7.
The Redhawks - who have finished second in the state the last two years - grabbed a 2-goal lead on rival Naperville North following goals from Rylee Brower and Jodie Nelson midway through the first period.
But the Huskies, who lost to Naperville Central earlier this season, were not intimidated a bit this time around. Huskies senior Isabelle Rocco scored shortly after Nelson's goal to chop the deficit in half, then Rocco struck two more times for a quick hat trick and a 3-2 lead for Naperville North.
The tying goal was tallied in close following a nice feed from Kelsey Ryan, while the go-ahead score with 1:42 left in the opening quarter came from more than 10 meters out in the middle of the pool.
The quick turnaround continued as the Huskies added two more scores for a 5-2 lead after one quarter on their way to an impressive 11-7 victory at Naperville Central. Goalie Libby Sprietzer set Ali Horn free on a breakaway with a long outlet pass for the fourth score, and Taylor Wessel rifled a shot into the upper left corner in the final minute to make it five straight Huskie goals.
"For the last three years they usually score the first goal," Rocco said. "And so getting the first couple goals (back) and going on a streak, it got our momentum shifting and I think for the girls it just felt good for them. It felt great to get those three goals, but I mean my team got me those passes, so it's really them."
Naperville North's defense stayed stingy in the second period, as the second of Wessel's four scores upped the Huskies' lead to 6-2 at the half. The advantage grew to 9-3 after three periods and even though the Redhawks' attack picked up in the fourth quarter, it was not enough to prevent the 11-7 setback.
"I call (the Redhawks) a dynasty with their two state runners-up places, so getting the win tonight is a real confidence booster for us," Rocco said.
Six Naperville Central players scored with Emma Guccione striking twice, but a long dry spell after the first two goals did in the home team.
"It might be the blessing and the curse of getting the first couple ones," Redhawks coach Jeff Plackett said. "You nip somebody the first time around and you go out and you score two quick goals … I think all of a sudden we started to believe that we were awesome."
The next thing the Redhawks knew, their rivals were scoring seven unanswered goals.
"You look at quarters two and three, we just went cold," said Plackett, whose team is 9-2 on the year following its second straight setback. "I think we have the right offensive passing sequence, we just weren't swimming through tonight and we were firing balls over the goal … it's kind of the nature of high school sports. Once a season you're going to pick a bad night to have a bad night and hopefully that was our one this season."
Horn, a four-year varsity player, was happy to knock off the rival Redhawks, but knows this regular-season matchup is only a tuneup for the state tourney.
"It feels pretty good. I'm friends with a lot of these girls so it's kind of weird to play them," Horn said. "We go back and forth every year. My freshmen year we went undefeated and then we lost to Central. That sectional game is everything to us. We use these games to learn what they do and to prepare."