Boys water polo: Third place a good start on next year for Naperville Central

Saturday night's boys state water polo third-place game wasn't only about bringing another trophy back to Naperville Central. It was also an early start on next year.

With just two seniors in the starting lineup for their 8-5 victory against Fenwick, the Redhawks look like a good bet to return to Stevenson High School for the state finals in 2018 and even improve on 2017's third-place finish.

"The future is so bright," said Redhawks senior Matt Reagan, who scored the first two Naperville Central goals of the game. "Throughout the year it was awesome to watch the freshmen and sophomores and juniors progress, because I know they're going to do big things next year and the years to come."

"We were playing for pride," added Redhawks coach Bill Salentine, who started four sophomores and a junior, "and we were trying to get experience for those sophomores and juniors for next year."

The Redhawks, the 2016 state champions, fell behind in the first half, but they scored the only goal of the third quarter to tie the game at 4.

"We've been a second-half team frequently throughout the year," Salentine said.

They took the lead for the first and only time in the fourth quarter when freshman Cam Dougherty scored off a rebound of a shot by senior Nolan Vaughn. They went ahead 6-4 when junior Dominic May took advantage of an Fenwick exclusion to score.

"He's got a great combination of speed and talent," Salentine said of May. "It's good to see him step up. He's only a junior, so next year looks good."

Fenwick scored its only goal of the second half with 2:45 left in the game to cut the Redhawks' lead to 1. But May scored again at 2:01 off an assist from junior Lucas Nervig, and sophomore Luke Klein-Collins scored from a May assist to clinch the win.

"We really just came together at the end," Reagan said. "It was the last quarter of our year. We worked so hard and didn't want to let it slip through our fingers right there."

Sophomore goalie Kent Emden made 9 saves in the third-place game.

The Redhawks had only a couple of hours to bounce back after losing 13-7 to Stevenson in the semifinals. Stevenson defeated New Trier in the state championship game 10-9 in triple overtime.

"It was a little hard," Reagan said. "We were bummed after we lost to Stevenson. Probably could have given them a little bit better game, but we knew that the last game of the year, we had to give it our all."

Winning their final game was the best way to get a head start on 2018.