Mundelein 15, Libertyville 10

Libertyville senior Sarah Cull and Mundelein junior Alice Denny played a game of, "Anything you can do, I can do better" Thursday.

Cull scored 8 goals, but Denny (7 goals) had more support from her teammates.

As a result, Mundelein emerged with a 15-10 victory in an IHSA girls water polo sectional match at Vernon Hills .

The No. 2 Mustangs will meet Buffalo Grove or Deerfield today in a sectional final at 8:15 p.m.

A little more than midway through the second quarter, Cull had scored four times, and the No. 7 Wildcats trailed 6-4. Denny answered with 2 of Mundelein's next 3 goals, which helped the Mustangs increase their lead to 9-4.

"I could not be more proud of the last game of her senior year," said Libertyville coach Hollie McCarthy. "She has been a great leader for the team all year and this was a phenomenal (performance)."

After an early goal, Cull's next shot was not as successful.

In fact, it was an "air ball."

"The ball slipped out of my hand, but I can't really blame it on that," Cull said with a smile.

Her next shot found the back of the net from about 9 meters out.

"Sometimes it works," Cull said about her shot from long range. "We had (trouble) setting the ball so we took (some) outside shots."

At halftime, the Mustangs' sole focus was to limit Cull. The Mustangs responded by holding Libertyville without a goal in the third quarter while they scored five times.

"To shut a team out in the third quarter at sectionals is really impressive," said Mundelein coach Andrew Schneider.

Denny added 2 more goals in the third quarter.

"I was able to create some distance between the defender, and my teammates set me up really well," Denny said.

In the fourth quarter, Cull scored three times. Teammate Katie Ahlgrim also got into the act with a pair of goals.

McCarthy, in her first year at Libertyville, was impressed with the way the Wildcats played in spurts against Mundelein. Although victories were tough to come by this season, she is optimistic about the program's direction.

"This is a young team and their skills have developed so much since the start of the season," she said. "I'm looking forward to watching them continue to improve from this time on."

In addition to Denny, teammates Ali Fedro (4 goals), Alexis Jones (3 goals) and Dani Caldwell (1 goals) contributed to Mundelein's high-scoring attack. Fedro also had a match-high 7 steals.

"Our offense is getting into the swing of things," senior Kristen Aucutt said. "It's working a lot better now."

Schneider was impressed with the aggressiveness Anne Murrow showed in goal.

"In many cases she came out of the goal and stole the ball," he said. "It was almost like having an extra defender."