Water polo: St. Charles North sweeps St. Charles East

St. Charles North girls water polo coach Nick Engel is a firm believer in the defensive side of the sport.

"We've built our team off of playing defense," said Engel. "Offense will come and go at times but you can always play good defense because it's an effort thing."

That extra effort came in handy during the North Stars' 6-4 victory over crosstown rival St. Charles East (4-5) Thursday night at the Norris Aquatic Center.

After St. Charles East junior Sienna Schulte tallied a pair of third-period goals to tie the match at 4-4, the North Stars' defense held the Saints scoreless for the final 9-plus minutes.

"We've had two games where we've given up more than five goals (this season)," said Engel, whose team improved to 8-5 while defeating the Saints for the sixth consecutive year. "That's my goal for each game - five."

Senior Emmy Feddor snapped the 4-4 deadlock with a goal off a direct shot with 1:53 remaining in the third period. Junior Hannah Turner notched an insurance goal early in the fourth period for the North Stars.

"The girls wanted it - that's what it came down to," said Engel.

North Stars junior goalie Claire Rich collected 2 of her 4 saves in the fourth period.

"Defense is one of the things that we take very seriously as a team," said Rich. "It's probably the thing that we're best at as a team. Tonight, you could see that we really came together toward the end and were able to shut down East."

Sarah Sandecki provided the Saints with their lone lead of the match - 2-1 with 5:30 left in the first half.

However, the North Stars countered with 3 unanswered goals to take a 4-2 halftime advantage. Junior Sarah Gibson netted her second and third goals of the match while senior veteran Monica Guyett added a solo tally with 22 seconds remaining before halftime.

"At the beginning of the season, we were missing one of our stronger players - Monica Guyett - so having her back has enabled us to control the other players and has opened up more shots for others," said Rich.

Morgan Meador also scored for the Saints while junior goalie Emma Rooney made 5 saves.

"Our shots just weren't on today," said Saints coach Stephanie Ter Bush. "We have really strong shooters but I think it was just kind of an off-day for them."

At St. Charles North, Nathan Bawolek scored 5 goals and added 3 assists to lead the North Stars (3-6) to a 12-7 triumph over St. Charles East (6-2) in boys' water polo action Thursday night.

The North Stars grabbed a 5-2 first-period lead before extending their cushion to 9-3 at the half.

"Scoring five goals in the first quarter is an explosion for us," said North Stars coach Chris Cloy. "That was good to see because we're averaging about seven goals per game."

Sam Lilly added 3 goals and 3 assists while Jack Williams and Zach Smith each added a goal as the North Stars avenged last year's 7-6 loss to the Saints.

"The boys played very well," said North Stars coach Chris Cloy. "It was probably one of our most complete games of the season."

Andrew Roberge scored 4 goals for the Saints, who came in averaging more than 12 goals per game.

"We were missing two starters and our starting goalie because of a band trip and vacation but that's still no excuse," said Saints coach Tim O'Grady. "Our offense did look better in the second half though."