Boys water polo: Scouting Fremd in the Elite Eight

Boys water polo / State tournament scouting

Thursday's quarterfinals at StevensonNew Trier (29-3-1) vs. Fremd (25-5), 4:30 p.m.

Lyons (30-2) vs. Stevenson (26-6), 5:45 p.m.

St. Ignatius (26-6-1) vs. Lincoln-Way East (25-5), 7 p.m.

Naperville Central (32-0) vs. York (23-7-2), 8:15 p.m.

Scouting New Trier vs. Fremd: The Trevians are in the Elite Eight for a second straight year after falling short against St. Ignatius in the quarterfinals last year. Juniors Henry Yavitt (74 goals) and Danilo Scekic (63) have led the way in scoring, with senior Charlie Ryan (55) and senior Michael Krueger (50) close behind. New Trier has excelled defensively, allowing double-digit scoring only three times, in consecutive games in early April. Fremd is after the program's first state quarterfinal victory. The senior led-Vikings get most of their scoring from Robert DePau (109 goals), Alex Nicholas (86) and Dylan Assmann (63) but are more balanced than most when it comes to playmaking. In assists, the MSL champs are represented evenly by De Pau and Nicholas (37 apiece), senior Nate Jordan (34), Assmann (33) and sophomore Derek Warnstedt (32).

Tournament at a glance: Naperville Central looks like the class of the field, having beaten the second- and third-ranked teams in the state according to illpolo.com, Lyons and Stevenson. The best quarterfinal matchup would have to be Lyons and Stevenson. New Trier is ranked No. 4 in the state, and Fremd checks in at 15. Naperville Central's Nick Walker has been a scoring machine, with 128 goals (along with 68 assists), while Redhawks standout goalie Kent Emden has stopped 302 shots on his way to a paltry 3.14 goals-against average. The narrowest margin of victory for unbeaten Naperville Central was 4 goals, in a 8-4 win against Stevenson in March. Since then, the Redhawks have twice defeated Stevenson by 5 goals.

- Aaron Gabriel