Hinsdale Central, Redhawks advance

Updated: May 12, 2011 8:35PM

It was a heavyweight water polo prize fight Thursday evening between No. 4 seed Waubonsie Valley and No. 5 Hinsdale Central.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, it was the Red Devils that delivered the knockout blow, outscoring Waubonsie 4-0 in the third quarter to take a 10-7 lead and hold on for a 12-10 victory in a quarterfinal at the Neuqua Valley Sectional.

“I think the team as a whole needs to learn not to give up and I think that’s something we’ve struggled with all season,” Warriors coach Rose Schiavoni said. “I think they gave good effort, but I think they lost that spark at the end.”

Waubonsie hole set Tyler Hunt scored the Warriors’ first five goals and had six by half as his team took a 7-6 advantage midway, but the Red Devils (16-14) tightened up the defense in the third and Hunt grew frustrated, getting a misconduct for striking at the end of the period and then getting a ejected on the way out of the pool.

“We didn’t do anything in the third quarter we hadn’t been doing the whole game. I think he just got tired,” Red Devils coach Martin Bell said. “My boys just stuck to the game plan. After the first quarter, I told them it was a four-quarter game. They won the first quarter, we had to win the last three quarters. We won the second quarter, that was great momentum for us. We then won the third quarter. I told them they had to win in regulation or it would be a toss-up in overtime.”

Hinsdale only got stronger as the game progressed, getting Nick Krompilas’ third goal to open the third period.

The counterattack also got stronger for the Red Devils and they picked up three man advantages during the frame, scoring two goals.

“It surprised me that we played as well as we did, doing the things I’ve been asking them to do all season,” Bell said. “Finally got it all together, perfect timing.”

Waubonsie (12-11) tried to recover in the fourth period, getting a goal from Kyle Apple and two of the three goals by Mike McWhirter, but it was not enough.

Red Devils’ goalie John Gibson recorded 22 saves, while Drake Kinney scored four goals and Strati Koulouris three for Hinsdale, which now faces top seed Naperville Central in a semifinal.

“They’re going to be an amazing opponent,” Bell said. “We’re a huge underdog, we know that. I know and love all the guys on their team. I’ve been coaching them for years, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to beat them. So we’re going to come out fired up, ready to play, but today was a big win for us.”

Naperville Central 20, Metea Valley 2

: There were many bewildered expressions from several coaches sitting on the bleachers next to the pool as the No. 9 seed Metea Valley boys water polo team took on No. 1 Naperville Central in the quarterfinals of the Neuqua Valley Sectional on Thursday afternoon.
“I’ve never seen it before,” Neuqua Valley head coach Michael Bathan said. “Definitely a non-traditional strategy.”
No one expected the youthful Mustangs to upset the Redhawks, let alone stay close. But it’s pretty hard to score goals when you don’t attempt a shot or barely try to score on offense.
Instead, whenever Metea gained control of possession, they played keep away in the back until the last 10 seconds of the shot clock before a swimmer was to break free for a long pass and a late shot attempt.
Now the defense was, in theory, set up to avoid a counterattack and be in position against the Redhawks vaunted attack.
Central, confused at first, bashed the odd strategy into submission, scoring nine goals in the first quarter and five more in the second — with subs in — on the way to a resounding 20-2 victory.
“Our goal was to hold them to 20 and score two for ourselves and we did,” Metea coach Tom Musch said in all seriousness. “If you watched, if we’d gone on offense against their very best people, we’d have lost quicker and they’d have scored more.”

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