Boys water polo: Naperville North posts a victory against Hinsdale Central

As goalie on the Naperville North boys water polo team, Ben Lovick knows one thing about shots that hit the posts.

They're very unpredictable.

"You don't know if it's going in or if it isn't," the junior said.

That can make for an uneasy life between the post.

"I was nervous a little bit," Lovick said.

Hinsdale Central made Lovick and Naperville North's life especially edgy in the fourth quarter. The Red Devils hit the post or crossbar three times in the fourth quarter, as the Huskies picked up a 9-5 win in Naperville.

"Yeah, (the post) was a pretty good friend today," Lovick said with a laugh. "It was a nice help on defense."

The Huskies defense was just as crucial as the posts were in the second half. Naperville North (6-6-1) allowed just one goal in the second half.

"We didn't really need to make a lot of defensive adjustments (at halftime)," Naperville North coach Martin Bell said. "We were playing good defense."

That translated to strong offense for Naperville North. Just 40 seconds into the third quarter, Jack Tarantino found Jack Wallace on the right side for a goal to give the Huskies a 6-4 lead.

"Early on, we weren't getting the ball into set much," sophomore Owen Jacobs said. "When we did, they were crashing and we couldn't get opportunities from there. So we kind of just worked around with my buddies and figured out what would work."

Working the extra pass worked for the Huskies. Riley Thompson scored from 2 meters with 38 seconds left in the third quarter, and Jacobs found Tarantino for a goal 31 seconds later that gave Naperville North an 8-5 lead.

Hinsdale Central (5-7) couldn't capitalize on man advantages, going goalless on its man advantages.

"I think that we run it a lot in practice, but kids get excited," Hinsdale Central coach Christy Brodell said. "They want to be the hero sometimes and we have to play calm and that's what happened."

Thompson opened the scoring for Naperville North with 5:15 to play in the first quarter, but Cayden Griffith found Zach Griffith for a goal a minute later to tie the game. Jacobs gave Naperville North the lead again 40 seconds later. Red Devils goalie Duncan Ferguson found Scottie Spinazola for a goal with 21 seconds left in the quarter to tie things back up.

Hinsdale Central took its first lead 1:04 into the second quarter. Cayden Griffith connected with Spinazola to give the Red Devils a 3-2 lead. Chase McClure, Tarantino and Wallace scored for Naperville North, while Ed Pletas scored for Hinsdale Central as the Huskies carried a 5-4 lead at the half.

Hinsdale Central's offensive woes negated that strong first half.

"I think we got scared and mad," Ferguson said. "We let them continue to play like they were, but we didn't show up how we were in the first half. That widened the gap."