Loyola claims third

Updated: May 21, 2011 7:39PM

Loyola’s players and coaches wore wide smiles across their faces and proudly held up three fingers.

But it wasn’t for the first third-place trophy in program history since water polo became an IHSA sport in 2002.

The trophy – which the Ramblers earned with a 9-4 victory Saturday over Sandburg in the IHSA third-place game at Stevenson behind Charlie Dowdle (five goals) and Tim Netzel (four goals) – and the win was for Ramblers captain Pat Stein, who wore No. 3 and has been hospitalized since suffering a brain aneurysm in October.

“It’s the only reason why we got here,” Dowdle said. “He couldn’t make it today. But he’s been leaving the hospital a lot lately, which is a really good sign and he’s going to go to prom tonight.”

Mike Malecki and Balys Gintautas each had two goals for Sandburg (29-7), which also lost 14-2 to Fenwick in the semifinals earlier Saturday.

“It’s nice even though it didn’t end the way we wanted it to,” Eagles senior Erik Niemeier said. “Our blood, sweet and tears went into last night’s game (a 15-14 overtime quarterfinal victory over Naperville Central) and it was nice to come out with a trophy after that.”

Robbie O’Connor had six saves for the Ramblers (21-15), who lost 10-9 to St. Ignatius in the semifinals on a goal in the last minute by the Wolfpack’s Mark Alvarado. Still, Loyola’s players and coaches can’t wait to show Stein the third-place trophy when they next visit him at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

“We’ll probably go down there tomorrow with the trophy, talk to him and hangout with him,” Dowdle said. “It will be fun. He’ll be the same old Pat, making jokes and making fun of us.”

Said Loyola coach Dan Hengelmann: “It’s going to mean everything, that’s what this whole season has been about. His push, his drive and his hard work has pushed us. It’s not a right to be here, it’s a privilege and you need to take every opportunity to take advantage of that and do everything you can.”

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