Girls water polo: St. Charles North repeats win over St. Charles East

Playing the same team twice in a six-day span is no small task.

Fresh from its 4-0 title-winning victory over St. Charles East in its own tournament last weekend, St. Charles North's girls water polo team proved the result was no fluke during Thursday night's 10-2 victory over the Saints (5-4) at the Norris Recreation Center.

Senior Olivia Traxler scored 3 of her game-high 6 goals during the first 9-plus minutes while helping jump-start the North Stars (7-2) to an early 4-0 lead.

Traxler's second goal came off a picture-perfect feed from fellow senior Jules Engesser.

"Passing is always a huge part of our practices," said Traxler. "We did really well at that (passing) today. We put people in good position to shoot."

Leading 2-0 after 1 period, St. Charles North put the game away with a 5-goal second-period surge that included 2 more goals from Traxler, a nifty turnaround tally by Engesser, and solo goals from Sara Quinn and Anna DeVries.

The North Stars led 7-2 at the intermission.

"We didn't have a very good game yesterday (12-3 loss to Naperville North) so we were excited to come back out here today," said Traxler. "This is our hometown match so we were all really pumped."

Sophomore Olivia Furmanek got the Saints (5-4) on the board midway through the second period following a North penalty.

Senior Meri Chivari added the Saints' second goal on a lofted shot just over the outstretched hands of North Stars goalie Lexi Coakley (9 saves).

"Being down 4-0 early, it's tough to come back from that," said Saints coach Stephanie Ter Bush. "Unfortunately, our shots just weren't there and our defense - we were struggling."

Traxler, who missed last Saturday's invitational (playing water polo in California), added a pair of 3rd-period goals before DeVries scored her second goal of the game with 1:11 remaining in the third period.

"Olivia (Traxler) is a great player but the whole North team was playing really well together today," said Ter Bush. "I don't think it was just her.

"It has been a tough season with our low turnout. We have a really small group this year."

Senior goalie Brianna DiCicco made 6 saves for the Saints.

All 4 St. Charles boys and girls water polo teams combined to participate in a "Pack the Pool Purple" fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.

"Normally, the boys and girls teams play separate but we wanted to make this a community event and bring everybody together," said North Stars boys coach Chris Cloy.