Boys water polo: Stevenson wins thriller to return as best in Illinois
The drought is over for the Stevenson boys water polo team.
The Patriots held off Brother Rice in the final four seconds as Stevenson won the state title game 10-9 at Barrington Saturday.
Stevenson last won the boys state title in 2021. The Patriots, who have three state championships, were eliminated in the quarterfinals last year and finished second in 2023 and 2024.
“We were just happy to come out on top,” said Stevenson coach Sean Wimer, who just completed his 20th season as head coach.
“We were just pushing the pace and we knew eventually we could wear them down.”
It was the third meeting this season between the Patriots (34-2) and Brother Rice. The Crusaders won the first meeting two months ago 9-8. Stevenson got back at Rice in mid-April 15-7. And with the win Saturday, the Patriots have given the Crusaders (32-2) their only losses this season.
“This was a great game between two great teams,” Wimer said. ”There were like 10-12 college level players out there. So there was a lot of talent in the pool.”
Stevenson was able to build a 4-2 halftime lead thanks to a pair of goals by the Patriots in the final seven seconds at the end of the first and second quarters.
Brother Rice scored first. But Stevenson then really injected some pressure on the offensive end. Unfortunately, for the Patriots, Crusader goalie Ian Sorensen would turn away 7 shots in the first quarter.
Undaunted, the Patriots kept up the pressure. Ben Tosyali would score for Stevenson and Armeet Gill would tally with 6.4 seconds left in the first quarter.
Stevenson’ Onat Kose came up with a huge steal on the first possession of the second quarter. The junior then raced in and put the ball into the corner of the cage to make it 3-1.
Brother Rice added another goal. But Kenny Weisner was able to score with 5.4 seconds left to make it 4-2.
The Crusaders came out hot to begin the third quarter. They scored three unanswered goals to pull ahead 5-4.
Gill tied it for the Pats. But the Crusaders pulled back on top with their third successful penalty shot to make it 6-5.
“This my third championship game,” said Gill, who is a senior and had 4 goals. “My goal there really got the boys fired up. When some of us do well, we are do well. We get pumped up together.”
Tosayali was able to convert a penalty shot for Stevenson to tie the game at 6-6.
That set up a surge of five consecutive goals for the Patriots. Gill, Levi Schnulle, Gill again, and then Tosayali would all score as Stevenson led 10-6 with 3:23 left.
“We just took off,” said Tosayali, who would finish with two goals. “We got in our groove. We got our press defense going. We were just able to kick it into the next gear.”
Brother Rice then went on a fury of its own. The Crusaders would score three straight to close to 10-9 with 17.6 seconds left.
Stevenson then turned the ball over with 4 seconds left. But Patriots goalie Anthony Cardone stole the ball in the corner to preserve the win.
In the third-place game, York finished third for the second year in a row by knocking off Whitney Young 10-8. Matthew Glod had three goals for York (29-5). Teddy Kamenica and Ethan Allen each scored twice while Herbie Jackson, Ian Morgan and Gabe Piper each also tallied a goal.