Boys water polo: St. Charles North starts fast, dominates rival
Despite having just one senior on its roster, St. Charles North's boys water polo team is capable of big things this season.
The North Stars (6-3) certainly showed their potential during Thursday's 17-0 victory over host St. Charles East (1-5) at the Norris Recreation Center.
With junior standout Siba Filipovic scoring 4 of the team's first 5 goals in the opening period, the North Stars built a 6-0 lead after 1 period before hitting the Saints with another 6-spot in the second period for a commanding 12-0 halftime advantage.
Ironically, St. Charles North entered the game looking to find its offensive identity.
"We're trying to figure out who we are on the offensive end so today was a good indication of where we could be," said North Stars coach Chris Cloy.
Filipovic scored all 5 of his goals during the first-half onslaught.
"Overall, everyone did a phenomenal job," said Filipovic, who spent last summer playing water polo in Serbia. "We have such a young group - next year is going to be a great year. Even this year, we're planning to make history for St. Charles water polo.
"We've got a little bit more to develop but we're doing a great job and I think we're going to get there."
Junior teammates Matthew Wolff and Jake Kalenowski supported Filipovic with 2 first-half goals apiece while Andrew Zoretic, Paranshu Shah and Aidan Allamian added first-half tallies.
Wolff notched his 3rd and 4th goals of the game late in the third period before senior Charlie Williams, sophomore Albert Buvary and freshman Ethan Marlowe closed out the scoring for the North Stars.
"It's good to go into Spring Break on a positive," said Cloy. "We beat Hinsdale South Tuesday so coming back and getting two victories this week was big for us."
The big lead allowed Cloy to add a few wrinkles later in the match.
"We were trying to work on some things that we've been practicing," said the coach. "We tried to run a couple different plays that we're hoping to use later in the season."
St. Charles East coach Brett Unruh tried to put the loss in perspective after the game.
"We're down a couple guys with the flu so that didn't help," said Unruh. "It's part of the process. We're getting there and we're trying to develop. The important thing is to find character in a game like this."