Fremd follows familiar route to Elite Eight

Last season was Fremd's breakthrough year as a program, as the Vikings took home a third-place trophy in the girls water polo state tournament.

The team's goal in 2010 was to sustain the same level of success. But with a mostly new batch of starters, that required, according to coach Brian Newby, "following a different path."

And yet the scenery suddenly looks very familiar to the Vikings, who earned their second straight trip to the Elite Eight by beating the host Fillies 12-3 in the championship game of the Barrington sectional Saturday afternoon.

"In some ways, it is a repeat of last year," said Newby, "but that's only because our kids made it that way but putting in the work. I've got these girls showing up three days a week before school for practice and working their tails off. Nobody ever complains about it, and they're all looking at the same end goal. They'll all dedicated."

Senior standout Erika Lauraitis kept the pressure on Barrington, knifing ahead of defenders and churning up second-chance opportunities in front of the goal for game-high 6 goals, and Sam DelPrado scored three times.

The Vikings (30-1) earned a date in Friday's 5:45 p.m. state quarterfinal at Stevenson against second-ranked St. Ignatius (26-4), which beat Whitney Young 13-5 on Saturday to win its own sectional.

The outcome wasn't exactly unexpected for Barrington (17-9), since Fremd is ranked No. 4 in the state and the Fillies are young, developing team. But they managed to keep it close, and with freshmen such as Catherine Byron and Danielle Elliott getting key experience alongside players such as senior Yessica Buenrostro, sophomore Erika Elliott and goalkeeper Brooke Fanslow, the future is bright for coach Mark Markwell's team.

"We'll use it as a growing process," he said. "It's a great season for us. I don't think people expected us to play this well."

Erika Elliott, Buenrostro and Byron scored Barrington's goals.

Sam Matuszewski, Taylor Spoonholtz and Lauren Zambelli had goals for Fremd.

The game served as a fine demonstration of how Fremd has managed its success both this season and last - cloying defense combined with opportunistic offense.

"I really think the main thing is we've done the work," said Vikings junior Megan Kennedy. "We've been telling each other, 'Don't take it for granted.' I think that's why we've been successful again: Nobody did."