Libertyville edges Wheeling in 5 OTs
Nobody called the U.S. Coast Guard near the end of a Vernon Hills boys water polo sectional quarterfinal Thursday night.
But it would have been a good idea, had fourth-seeded Libertyville and fifth-seeded Wheeling been forced to play another overtime.
“My legs? I couldn’t feel them at the end,” Libertyville senior Ian Kinsella, weary and relieved, said. “I was too tired.”
The game? Too thrilling.
Too dangerously exhausting for those wearing polo caps.
The game-winner in Libertyville’s 8-7 victory wasn’t scored until midway through the fifth OT.
Kinsella, after receiving a pass from classmate Mitch Boynton in the sudden-death session, ended the watery marathon with a right-handed cross-face shot. It beat sensational Wheeling goalkeeper Shane McDade, a 6-foot-4, 200-pound senior who amassed 23 saves (8 in the third quarter) and should seriously considering enlisting in the USCG.
Libertyville (16-15) faces top-seeded Palatine (26-4) in a sectional semifinal today at 7 p.m.
“(McDade) is the best goalie in the sectional, in my opinion,” said Libertyville coach Ivan Munoz, whose own keeper, junior Clayton Kullander (15 saves), also elicited crowd buzzes after making clutch stops.
“(McDade),” he added, “has such a sense for the ball … such a pure sense for it.”
A flair for the dramatic, as well.
Or, as it turned out Thursday, the near-dramatic.
With time running out in the fourth OT (the second sudden-death session), McDade whipped a pool-length shot past a stunned Kullander. Wheeling’s players and their coach, John Means, started to celebrate. But a referee ruled it an illegal shot.
Hello, OT No. 5.
Kullander, a first-year keeper who competed as a field player last spring, made an early save in the final extra period.
Kinsella’s clincher was his fifth tally of the game.
“Everybody out there was creating opportunities for everybody else,” said Kinsella. “Our teamwork got it done tonight.
“No one man,” he added, “makes a goal.”
Junior Tommy Keefe scored Libertyville’s other 3 goals, including the final one in regulation, at 3:13 of the fourth quarter.
Wheeling (21-7) had scored the first 2 goals of the final frame. Senior Dan Kubeck (4 goals), a marvelous menace on defense all night, struck for a power-play goal after junior teammate Ben Reiff had tied it 6-6 at the 4:40 mark.
“A tough game to lose,” said Means. “Really tough. Both teams were dead-tired at the end, and both teams played incredibly well. Both teams … evenly matched. Hey, it was a four (seed) against a five (seed), right?”
Means’ counterpart, Munoz, had a tough time exhaling between thoughts afterward. A heightened level of excitement tends to do that to a speech pattern.
“I’m sorry. I know I’m talking too fast,” said an ecstatic Munoz, a 1995 Mundelein High School graduate. “I’d never been involved in a game like this. Five overtimes. Wow. Whoa. Our guys — everybody kept fighting, kept fighting.
“And we did so many things correctly. I never lost trust tonight, in anybody.”
Palatine 21, Lake Forest 4: The Pirates routed the Scouts in Thursday’s first sectional quarterfinal at Vernon Hills.
Kamil Mulawa paced the reigning Mid-Suburban League champs with 7 goals, and Justin Behrens netted five.
“Our energy impressed me the most,” said Palatine coach Joe Grzybek. “We knew we needed to be relentless, and we were for, I’d say, 98 percent of the game.”
Mulawa started serving as a Pirates hole-set player only a month ago.
“He’s just … tough, so tough,” said Grzybek, whose crew led 11-2 at the half and 19-2 after three quarters. “Kamil knows what being tenacious is all about.”