Girls water polo: Hoffman Estates battles its way past Palatine
With its intense physicality, water polo has been described as a sport not for the faint-hearted.
Quite to the contrary and Wednesday night at Palatine, Hoffman Estates junior Cristina Virlan showed that she has the heart of a champion.
Virlan's tough, persistent play in the water helped lead the Hawks to a 13-4 girls water polo victory over the Pirates.
"I would agree," said Virlan of the consistent effort it takes to battle through four quarters in the pool.
"There's a lot that happens under water, and sometimes you don't see it, but you feel it. It can get a little vicious out there, but it's a fun sport nonetheless."
Hoffman had to battle back and rally for the win, as Palatine played extremely well and led the match midway through the second period.
"We've been working a lot on pressure and defense, and today we really stepped it up," said Hawks coach Tegan Boland. "We worked together. Everyone on the team collaborated together instead of just playing as individuals."
Palatine kept the pressure on early, and back-to-back-to-back goals from Pirate Addie Bruemmer, a senior, and Cadyn Peairs and Brianna Ramirez, both juniors, saw the home team take a 4-3 lead.
Then Hoffman struck back just before halftime, and took a 7-4 lead into intermission thanks to a memorable goal from Virlan.
She had a point-blank shot stopped by the Palatine keeper, but kept fighting and somehow corralled the ball near the side of the net, and sent it past the Pirates' goalie with a backhanded flip.
"Honestly, that was a spur of the moment thing," said Virlan. "I didn't think I could get away with that (the backhanded shot), but I saw my opportunity and took it."
Hoffman extended the lead by scoring twice in the third period, but the stat sheet doesn't tell the whole story.
The Pirates kept up the attack but fell victim to bad luck with 4 shots bouncing off the crossbar, and were also held at bay by the tremendous play of Hawks goalkeeper Emma Banaszewski.
Banaszewski made 5 saves in the third, a couple of them of the spectacular variety.
"Emma did a fantastic job," said Boland. "She's new to water polo but took to the goalie position really quickly. She steps up to the plate, she learns from her mistakes, and she's eager to build and develop."
Banaszewski wound up pitching a second-half shutout as she held Palatine off the scoreboard in the final two quarters.
Hoffman put the game away in the final stanza on goals from Arlette Cotonieto, Emma Kronfeld, Amy Lam and Harper Funkhouser.
Virlan and Lam finished with 3 goals apiece, while it was a total team effort on defense for the Hawks.
"We've really been working quite a bit on communication," said Virlan, "calling out switches in the water, and giving each other constructive criticism so that everyone knows what they're supposed to be doing.
"Everybody on the team is doing well, especially those who I call our 'silent' players - we can't win without them, players, for example like my teammate Helena (Ferreira). They're quiet, but they really stand out and get the job done."