Naperville Redhawks look within for spark
Despite an unbeaten record and a lead at the half, the Naperville Central girls water polo squad was looking for a spark to start the second half.
The Redhawks (12-0) led 4-2 at the intermission of their match at Waubonsie Valley on Tuesday night. But after four quick goals to start the contest, they looked a little sluggish while getting blanked in the second quarter, the first time all season they had registered a goose-egg for an entire quarter.
An impressive third quarter cured any worries Naperville Central might have had as the Redhawks' Emily Senja scored on the opening possession of the quarter and Claire Fleming and then Senja each converted turnovers into impressive scores as the visitors exploded for 5 goals in the quarter on their way to a 10-5 defeat of the Warriors (3-4).
"The passing was just ugly in the second quarter," Redhawks coach Jeff Plackett said. "We had a talk at halftime about how we needed somebody to do something to spark us."
It took just 24 seconds for Haley Nelson to feed Sejna for a quick score just inside the right goal post and past Warriors keeper Meaghan McWhirter. Fleming, who notched the first two of her three goals while Naperville Central jumped ahead 4-1 in the first quarter, later gave her team a 7-2 lead when she fired home her third score with 3:52 left in the third.
"Once you realize what you got into, then you know you have to come out strong and carry on what you're improving," said Fleming, who hasn't kept an accurate count of her 30-something goals so far this season. "And once we get momentum going our way it's easier to keep it up."
Waubonsie Valley coach Diana Mehl said her young team has already made great strides this spring but that facing a state power like Naperville Central does show her players a few areas where they need to continue to improve upon.
"We've worked out some of our kinks," said Mehl, whose Warriors lost to the Redhawks at a quad less than two weeks ago. "But obviously we have more work to do. It's a very young team, but these girls work really well as a team."
Sabina Kastanova and Alex White each tallied first-half goals for the Warriors, and Kastanova added another score in the third quarter. Isabelle Langheim and Nikki Mandl also scored goals for Waubonsie.
For the Redhawks, freshman goalkeeper Julia Campbell made 4 saves to earn the win, and Emily Wooten and Fleming each paced the offense with 3 goals in the match. Claire Wirtz tallied the final goal of the match for the Redhawks after the Warriors struck twice to close to within 9-5 late.