Girls water polo: Simpson sisters making major impact at Libertyville
Ciara and Leah Simpson entered a different world when they came to Libertyville High School last April.
Their dad’s job transfer with AbbVie to North Chicago meant the Simpsons, who are triplets along with their brother, were moving 8,700 miles from their lifelong home of Johannesburg, South Africa. It didn’t take them long to find a spot of comfort and familiarity in an unfamiliar place.
“I got an email from our AD (John Woods) that two girls had moved in from South Africa who were interested in playing water polo,” said Libertyville coach Tracy Balla. “Word spread that they had been playing.”
The juniors’ play has boosted Libertyville to a 9-1 start after it swept 3 games in its Saturday quad by a combined score of 40-4. Ciara had half of her 14 goals on the day in a 15-4 win over Prospect for the title and Leah has been solid in splitting time playing the field and in goal with standout Ellie Shafer.
Ciara also had 14 steals and 7 assists Saturday and has 31 goals for the season. The Simpsons moved in too late last season to join the team but came to a few practices and got acclimated with their club team.
“It’s been hard, harder than I thought it would be,” Ciara said. “It’s nice to have a team to be a part of and that’s helped a lot. You have a team where you make friends and interact with people after school every day.”
Libertyville has four senior starters back in Shafer, Payton Howard (7 goals in the quad), Maya Anderson (3 goals) and Kaitlyn Galloway. Katherine Anderson’s 2 goals against Prospect included a breakaway to start a 4-goal blitz in the final 2:16 of the first half for a 9-3 lead. Ciara Simpson had a nice feed to Annie Buchert for a score.
“The communication was there. The teamwork was there,” Simpson said. “It was the best game we’ve played all year.”
Libertyville also beat Glenbrook North 15-0 and Conant 10-0.
Prospect (6-3) has a “new” coach but a familiar face in the area water polo scene in Dick Mortensen. The Knights trailed only 5-3 deep into the second quarter on 2 goals from Olivia Schiller and one from Sasha Martschenko.
“We had some great goals.” Mortensen said. “When it clicked, it clicked.”
Martschenko (8 goals), Schiller (5) and Katelyn Royal (5) led the Knights’ 2-1 finish as they beat Glenbrook North 15-4 and Conant 10-2. The Cougars (5-7) won their final game 15-4 over GBN behind Kaela LaFortune (4 goals) and Lily Lobosco (3).
“I told the girls if they wanted the win they’ve gotta go get it,” said Conant coach Justin Bickus. “I’m proud of the girls. They stuck to it and kept playing.”