Wheeling, Stevenson to meet at Palatine
After scoring 5 goals in Wheeling’s biggest girls water polo win in program history Friday night, Wildcats senior driver Leah Malsom was thankful for two losses.
Wheeling beat Mundelein 9-4 in a Palatine sectional semifinal to advance to a sectional final for the first time. But she fondly recalled setbacks to New Trier and Fremd earlier this month after Friday’s breakthrough victory.
“They were tough losses, but all of us learned a lot during each of them,” she said. “I saw my weak spots. Our team noticed some holes in our game. Since then we’ve come together as a team.”
Second-seeded Wheeling (20-8) gets to meet a habitual sectional finalist at 2:15 p.m. today for a sectional championship and berth at next weekend’s state meet at Stevenson. Top-seeded Stevenson secured its 15 straight sectional title berth under coach Jeff Wimer when it downed Buffalo Grove 13-6 in Friday’s first semifinal at Palatine.
Wheeling’s girls insisted on arriving at Palatine four hours before their clash with Mundelein. They wanted to support Wheeling’s boys, who lost 20-13 to Stevenson in the first boys sectional semifinal at the Pirates’ natatorium.
“That worried me a little bit,” admitted Wheeling coach Bob Savitt. “All that sitting, and it was hot in here. I thought they would get tired. I was tired. But my girls played great against a very good team.”
Malsom was awesome from the start, scoring 3 goals in the first half, including a pair in a 45-second span in the second quarter. Her first goal in the second half swelled Wheeling’s lead to 7-1.
Freshman teammate Shannon Richards tossed in 2 goals, and Theresa Godlewski and Heather Murphy each tallied 1.
“Heather,” said Savitt, “drew attention and that opened up so many opportunities for us. She scored only once, yes. But she was invaluable, and several of our girls did such a good job boxing out on defense.”
The winning goalkeeper was Keara Myatt.
Alyssa Garcia paced Mundelein (17-15) with 2 goals.
“We lost to a good team tonight,” said Mustangs coach Drew Schneider. “Wheeling played solid offensively and defensively. For us, it came down to shooting. We had to shoot effectively and accurately, and we did not. But we played valiantly on defense.”
Reigning state runner-up Stevenson (24-8) played stifling defense against BG in the first semifinal, limiting the Bison (19-12) to 2 goals in the second half after leading 7-4 at the break. Senior keeper Lisa Michalowski (17 saves) was essentially a bobbing, four-limbed wall, while Patriots Cami Haas (6 goals) Erin McCook (5 goals) took care of business at the other end of the pool.
McCook also contributed 4 steals, while teammate Brittany Gartenberg (goal) collected 3 steals.
Wimer pulled his starters for nearly five minutes in the second quarter. His starters responded with 4 unanswered goals at the start of the third quarter to puff the Pats’ lead to 11-4.
“We were a little sluggish at the start,” said Wimer. “Giving my starters a break might have helped later on. I like my second stringers; they’re hungry, and in practice they’re aggressive and intense. They want to play just as much as my starters do.”
BG was led by Sara Fasching (2 goals) and Julie Pater (2 goals), two of Bison coach Tim O’Hagan’s eight seniors.
“Stevenson’s shot selection was good, as was its accuracy,” said O’Hagan. “Their players do such a great job of faking — they fake a powerful shot and then lob a shot ever so gently for a goal. And that goalie (Michalowski) is tremendous, a great athlete who is so good at taking away the easy shots.”
Boys
Stevenson routed Wheeling 15-0 when the two teams met in the regular season.
But Stevenson fell behind Wheeling 1-0 in the first minute of Friday’s first Palatine sectional boys water polo semifinal.
“I guarantee you that Wheeling forgot all about that loss at that point of today’s game,” said Stevenson coach Sean Wimer, whose club poured in the last four goals of the first quarter and outscored the Wildcats 11-9 in the second half of its 20-13 victory.
“Wheeling,” he added, “made it difficult for us. I have a lot of respect for (Wildcats coach) Rudy (Means).”
Mitchell Sokolsky led the Pats with 7 goals, followed by Alex Shkiler’s 6. Remy Dalloul added 3 goals. Wheeling got a team-high 4 goals from senior Austin Ihde — all in third quarter.
“We played really well today and fought through some stuff,” said Means. “We were with them, with them, right there. But we made some bad passes and Stevenson took advantage of them. Very good teams do that.
“We matched up OK with them in speed, but they have some big, big kids who were more physical than we were.”
Top-seeded Stevenson (23-8) will face McHenry (17-6-1) for a sectional title at 1 p.m. today at Palatine. McHenry topped Lake Forest 15-8 in Friday’s second semifinal.