Scouting DuPage County boys water polo
Top local teams: Naperville Central, Neuqua Valley, Naperville North, Waubonsie Valley
Top games: Neuqua Valley at Waubonsie Valley, March 15; Naperville Central at Waubonsie Valley, March 20; Waubonsie Valley at Naperville North, March 22; Huskie Invitational, April 7; Naperville North at Neuqua Valley, April 10; Neuqua Valley at Naperville Central, April 12; Best of the West, April 13-14; Metea Valley at Waubonsie Valley, April 19; St. Patrick’s Tournament, April 13-14; Stevenson Tournament, April 27-28;
Top players: Eric Curia (Naperville North, Jr.); Dennis Herron (Naperville Central, Sr.); Neal Hosper (Naperville Central, Sr.); Aaron Katz (Naperville North, Sr.); Zach McClernon (Metea Valley, Sr.); Mike McWhirter (Waubonsie Valley, Jr.); Joey Poletto (Waubonsie Valley, Sr.); Matt Reasons (Naperville Central, Sr.); Kevin Patterson (Neuqua Valley, Sr.); Jacob Thompson (Naperville North, Sr.); Robert Vechiola (Neuqua Valley, Sr.); Cameron Weber (Metea Valley, Sr.)
Outlook: Last season’s 26-5 Naperville Central squad lost a lot to graduation, and the Redhawks will battle for their fifth straight state finals appearance with a lot of new faces. “We have only five seniors and five juniors in the program. We are going to take a long look at our players and try and determine who plays best with whom to give us the best shot at success,” coach Bill Salentine said. Top returning seniors include Dennis Herron, Matt Reasons and Neal Hosper. Salentine said junior Matt Prestinario is ready to take over as starting goalie.
There’s confidence in the Neuqua Valley camp that the players are there to help the Wildcats improve upon 2011’s 19-6-1 performance. “We have a very positive outlook. We are returning a lot of talent to the varsity and JV squads along with a very large freshman class this year,” coach Adam Hoffer said. “We have a very fast team that is really driven to prove themselves this year. I think that we have a good chance of turning some heads this year, especially as we get closer to the postseason. Top returning players include senior Kevin Patterson, last season’s second-leading scorer, and senior Robert Vechiola. Juniors Will Russell and Brian DePuy were JV starters as sophomores and saw time off the bench for the varsity.
Naperville North coach John Blumthal believes this season’s sectional is wide open and he’s confident of the Huskies’ chances at being the team that heads to state. “We lose a lot of seniors from the year before, who were role players, to graduation,” he said. “We return arguably our three best polo players from last year in Aaron Katz, Eric Curia and Jacob Thompson.” Blumthal added that a majority of juniors, sophomores and freshmen moving up to the varsity level this year gained valuable experience last summer at Under-16 Junior Olympic tournaments in Michigan and California. Those players are Curia, junior goalie Michael Shabel along with sophomores Luke Landiak, Nolan Roberts, Gianmarco Duin, B.D. Chapman, Andrew Rocco and freshman Drake McClure.
Expectations are high at Waubonise with several key players returning. “When looking at the area competition and in comparison to past years, there is no real front-runner to dominate the area, and we believe this can be our year to fill that role,” said Warriors coach Matt Niemeier. “We have speed, talent and an unbelievable desire. With that being said, I can’t see why we won’t win sectionals.” The team looks to improve upon last season’s 12-11-1 mark with the helping of such returning players as senior Joey Poletto and junior Mike McWhirter, who combined for more than 100 goals, along with juniors Stephen Ernst and Kelvin Newton.
Metea enters its second varsity season and coach Tom Musch is optimistic that the Mustangs can further progress this spring after 2011’s five-win showing. “This year’s team looks to be much better with regard to speed. Just about all of our varsity field players are better than or just missed state times in swimming,” he said. “We are still far behind with respect to game experience, which we hope to overcome in some manner with hard work. But it still makes it hard to win games.” Seniors Zach McClernon and Cameron Weber are the top returning veterans.
Hinsdale Central finished 16-15 last spring and coach Martin Bell leads a big group of returning players to try and improve upon that. They include George Koulouris; team captain Drake Kinney, goalie Mitch Courtney, team captain Pat Gallagher; Andre Brown, Brogan O’Doherty and Alex Cruz.
York takes to the season with new coach Brian Drumm and strives to put last season’s sub-.500 record from 2011 behind it. Seniors Ziggy Matsas and Colin Belfiore along with juniors Alex Wallher and Patrick McKenna lead the squad.
First-year coach Beth Walker and a core of Hinsdale South veterans aim to take a step forward after last season’s 5-22 record. Top returning seniors are Anthony Arito, Luke Jocewicz, Dex Driggers and Dusan Krcadinac.
— D.J. Wanberg