St. Charles East, North trying to take next step
Sean Markovic expected great things from his St. Charles East boys water polo team entering the season and it hasn’t taken the Saints long to deliver.
St. Charles East got its season off to a great start last weekend by winning the Hoffman Estates tournament.
The Saints are 5-1 in the early going losing only to McHenry.
“The team is finally senior and junior heavy after two years of playing with more underclassmen on varsity then upperclassmen,” Markovic said. “This means higher postseason aspirations. Neither St. Charles East nor St. Charles North has advanced past their sectional quarterfinal game since the schools split. (We) are poised for the most successful season in school history and hope to ride that success to a state berth in 2012.”
This is Markovic’s third year with the Saints. They went 12-10 last year for their first winning record and lost in the sectional quarterfinals to Neuqua Valley.
Among those returnees Markovic is so excited about are seniors Shaun Seuschek, Stephen Mason, Sam Schultz, Matt Ballweg and Matt VanGyseghem. Junior Austin Muehlschegel also returns as does sophomore Will Shanel.
St. Charles East welcomes some talented new faces including senior Jim Jirsa, senior Forrest Hyler, junior Ian Salveson, junior Mitch Phelps, junior T.J. Bindseil and junior Max Schmitt.
“(We) are a big, physical team that dominates on the defensive end, but also has the speed and ball skill to play with anyone in the state,” Markovic said. “Getting the team to believe in their potential and turn it into wins against the state’s top teams is the key to the season.”
Across town Chris Cloy is also excited about the North Stars’ chances. Cloy is beginning his fourth year with the St. Charles North boys, now 39-43 through three years after a strong 18-11 record last year.
The North Stars earned a No. 6 seed in the Neuqua Valley sectional last year before losing to Naperville North in the sectional quarterfinals and want to take another step in the postseason this year.
“The goal of the season is to reach the sectional semifinals,” Cloy said. “In order to achieve this goal we will have to rely on a talented junior and sophomore class.”
St. Charles North doesn’t have many seniors but does welcome back two key ones in Joey Chokran who had 77 goals, 25 assists and 64 steals last year.
Senior goalie Eli Broxham also returns after making 164 saves last year.
“The experience of four-year players Joey and Eli will be essential to help mentor the younger players,” Cloy said. “Both were starters last year and will be counted on to lead the way this season.”
Cloy pointed to junior Justin Simmonds as one of the newcomers he is excited about and knows he will need a lot of his new players to make an impact.
“Many individuals will be stepping up to the varsity level after playing junior varsity,” Cloy said. “They will need to quickly gain experience and see what the varsity level is like. Learning to play team defense and trying to get better each and every game is our focus. If this can be achieved we believe that we can be playing our best polo of the year at the end of the season.”
The girls team at St. Charles North is coming off a 6-16 season which represented an improvement in the three years coach Nick Engel has been building his program.
St. Charles North brings back Claire Bultema (driver), Sarah Stern (hole defense) and Mallory Hecht (driver) from that team and welcomes Maddie Jones among others.
“Our team goals are to have a winning record, be competitive at sectionals and continue to grow as both a program and team,” Engel said. “My girls have really jelled as a defensive unit and this year we need to take that next step and become more of an offensive team.”
St. Charles East’s girls team welcomes a new coach this spring, Stephanie McClure. A two-time state champion at Mundelein High School in 2000 and 2001, McClure attended college at Northeastern and has previous coaching and officiating experience.
She’ll have several returning players from last year’s 1-17 team to build around including Vicki Salzmann, Kaitlin McKeighan, Aimee Eisenstein, Sarah DiLillo, Shannon Anderson, Sarah Ditch, Victoria Bauer, Jeneva Newman, Maya Heath, Megan Zbinden, Kaitlyn Johnsen, Diemante Butkute, Alexis Chacon, Kaylee Riegler and Eryca Regner.
Added to that mix are newcomers like Laura Crocker, Kate Swartz, Sarah Beyer, Mia Scott and Lexie Kos.
The Saints picked up their first win Tuesday coming from six goals behind at halftime.
“We have more games this year so we can continue to learn and be competitive with the team in our state,” McClure said. “Already we have made great improvements.”