Boys water polo: Breakthrough state win for Conant
There were some very nervous moments for Conant players and fans Thursday night at Stevenson, right down to the final seconds of the Cougars' state quarterfinal boys water polo game against Lincoln-Way East.
But Conant (23-11-1) kept its composure under the trying circumstances to hold off the Griffins for an exciting 7-6 victory to advance to the semifinals Saturday morning against Naperville Central.
It was the first Elite Eight victory for the Cougars in three tries while Lincoln-Way East (20-12) fell to 0-6 all-time in its state quarterfinals games.
It's also the first state quarterfinal victory for any boys water polo team from the Mid-Suburban League.
Conant got off to a fantastic start in the opening quarter as junior Alex Hirjoi got the Cougars on the scoreboard with a straight away shot from 20 feet out just 1:05 into the contest.
Hirjoi fired a penalty shot past Griffins goalkeeper Collin McGovern with 5:03 remaining in the opening period before Hirjoi skipped home his third goal from long range with 1:13 left in the period for a 3-0 advantage.
"We started off with the lead, and that sort of got our confidence up," said Hirjoi, whose team played great defense from start to finish behind senior goalie Harris Dibek (17 saves). "The first quarter is what we wanted, our goalie had amazing saves, and I couldn't be happier with how he played."
The Cougars' young squad features only one key senior in Dibek, but they showed the poise and resilience that you would expect from a senior-dominated group.
The Griffins broke up the shutout on a penalty shot by Tyler Orloff early in the second quarter. But Conant responded with a close-range goal by Bryan Cho, another goal by Cho (assisted by Hiroi), and a goal by freshman Noah Lawson assisted by Dibek for a commanding 6-1 lead with 2:26 left in the first half.
Lincoln-Way East kept things interesting as Ryan Utt scored a fastbreak goal assisted by Orloff before Pat Rossetto scored from in close to cut the gap to 6-3 at halftime.
The Cougars scored 23 seconds into the third quarter on Cho's third goal from close range for a 7-3 lead. But that would be their final goal the rest of the way.
A goal by Rossetto cut the gap to 7-4 after three quarters before goals by Orloff, and then Utt with only 26 seconds to play made the score 7-6.
Conant tried to run out the clock, but Trevor Horn came up with a huge steal with eight seconds left. Then the Griffins turned the ball over with five seconds to go, only to see Horn somehow get the ball back again as time was running out. But his soft shot from the left wing with one second left was easily turned away by Dibek to seal the Conant win.
"All year they have learned how to handle adversity, and that is something they did really well tonight," said Conant coach Tim Daniel. "We knew we had to control the ball and make sure they couldn't counter with quick goals."
"He (Hirjoi) has been one of our best players, he did a lot in the off-season, and he's turned into a great player," added Daniel. "(Dibek) is our only senior, he came in second in state soccer two years ago, and he brings us a lot of experience."