Naperville Central takes third-place trophy
Why not take home a win while ending a season?
Naperville Central's girls water polo team picked up a 9-3 victory over Homewood-Flossmoor and lifted up a third-place trophy on Saturday in the IHSA girls water polo state finals at Stevenson high school in Lincolnshire.
"There are only two teams here that will finish with a win," Naperville coach Jeff Plackett said "First place is always fun, but to finish a season with a win, this is a whole different feeling right now."
The Redhawks are no strangers over the last three years at the state finals, also winning a second- and fourth-place hardware.
"What we have is a group of graduating seniors who have put three trophies in our trophy case," Plackett said. "We'll get there, we're a young group and it takes time building a program. We're starting to see results. Why worry about a state championship right now?"
In the third-place match, the Redhawks scored early and often with 4 in the first quarter and 3 more in the second. Naperville Central held a commanding 7-1 halftime lead and coasted the rest of the way.
Abbey Kerth led with 4 goals, Claire Fleming and Emily Sejna each had 2, and Tori Davis scored the other goal.
"It was a great feeling coming out on top even though it was a consolation game," Fleming said. "We were all able to succeed and communicate very well. It's a great feeling.
"Having a trophy in the school and seeing them all lined up we'll having something to come back to look at. It's an amazing feeling. All the hard work pays off."
Homewood-Flossmoor (27-8) couldn't get things going out of the gate and found out just how good Naperville Central's program.
"There was no shame in losing to (Naperville Central)," Homewood-Flossmoor coach Patrick Duignan said. "I thought we could've played better. We just gassed ourselves. We were running on empty. To play against Naperville Central, you need to play your 'A' game."
In the semifinals Naperville Central lost to eventual state champion Lyons Twp. 7-6 in double overtime.