Boys Water Polo: Lincoln-Way East falls to Homewood-Flossmoor
By Steve Millar For Sun-Times Media May 9, 2012 11:06PM
Homewood-Flossmoor's Kevin Kuchta tries to pass the ball under pressure from Lincoln-Way East's Davd Drewes. | Larry Kane~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: June 11, 2012 10:24AM
Homewood-Flossmoor’s Zack Peterson admitted the inexperienced Vikings may have been a bit intimidated by the sectional stage early in Wednesday’s game against Lincoln-Way East.
After a slow start, it mostly was Peterson doing the intimidating as H-F took control in the second quarter and held on for an 11-9 win in a Lincoln-Way Central Sectional quarterfinal.
“I think we were all kind of nervous,” Peterson said. “Once we spread out our offense, we were able to get the ball in to me more and our outside shooters got going.”
Peterson scored four goals, Kevin Kuchta had three and Jakobi McClellan made nine saves to lead the third-seeded Vikings (18-12), who will meet Bremen co-op in Friday’s semifinals.
Al Newell (4 goals) and Tom Vander Velde (3 goals) paced sixth-seeded East (8-20).
Up 2-1 after the first quarter, H-F pulled away with the first three goals of the second, including two Henry Weeks scores from outside.
Vander Velde’s goal on a skip shot brought the Griffins to within 6-4 before Peterson came up with a steal and scored to give his team momentum and a three-goal halftime lead it would not relinquish.
“I saw one of their weaker ballhandlers had it, so I went for the steal,” Peterson said. The goal got my confidence up.”
Dominick Malinauskas made 12 saves for East.
In the night’s biggest upset, seventh-seeded Bremen stunned No. 2 seed Andrew 17-16 as Gabe Stein-Rojas scored on a rebound with five seconds left for the Silver Snakes (15-8).
“I knew I had to get the rebound and put it in the cage for us,” Stein-Rojas said. “This win means so much for us. It’s the first time Bremen’s ever won a playoff game.”
Quinn Johnson scored eight goals and Kris Arnold four to lead Bremen, which rallied from a 15-13 fourth-quarter deficit.
Kyle Heneghan had seven goals and James Fischer three for Andrew (17-10).
Bradley 13, Lincoln-Way North 11: Kyle Mohan scored four goals and Curtis Thrun three for North (19-12).
Lockport 17, Lincoln-Way Central 7: Dan Oldendorf and David Hir netted five goals apiece for Lockport (21-7). Alex McCormick scored three times for Lincoln-Way Central (4-26).
