Statistically, the Fenwick boys water polo team endured the worst season in program history, struggling with inexperience and inconsistency to win nine fewer games than any other team in school history.
Yet the Friars still came within two minutes of qualifying for the state quarterfinals.
Kyle Poland scored three goals and fellow junior Conor Hendzel added two goals, but it wasn’t enough for Fenwick to upset top-seeded York, which rallied late and hung on to win 10-9 in the York Sectional final on Saturday.
The Friars beat crosstown rival Oak Park and River Forest 15-9 in the sectional semifinals.
The host Dukes (23-7-2) will be making just their third state quarterfinal appearance and first since 2008 when they play Naperville Central on Thursday at Stevenson.
The second-seeded Friars (18-14-1), who tied the Dukes during the regular season, did not advance for only the second time since 2003.
“They played great,” Fenwick coach Kyle Perry said. “We were a bit of a moody team this year; some ups and downs.
“We had some good confidence going into the last few games but were just not able to finish it out here at this tournament.”
For a while it appeared the Friars, who began the year with only three players with varsity experience, would be able to finish off a game in which neither team led by more than two goals. Fenwick led 8-6 heading into the fourth quarter, but York scored four straight goals, including the go-ahead tally by senior Tim Evely with 2:22 left, to seize control.
The Dukes made it 10-8 when Tim Delaney scored on a rebound with 1:04 left, but the Friars still had a little magic left. Junior Noah Groll scored on a power play with 32 seconds remaining and the Friars got the ball back with 6.4 ticks left.
Fenwick got the ball up to Hendzel in front of the York goal, but three defenders surrounded him and he was unable to get a shot off.
“Their defense was great,” Perry said. “They had us on our heels.
“We were scrambling and that’s not a position you ever want to be in, down by one with 20 seconds left. Still had a lot of confidence we were going to get a good scoring opportunity and we did. We got the ball into Conor, he was playing great.”
Hendzel is one of nine juniors who received valuable seasoning this season and figures to make Fenwick a force again next year.
“The second half of the season he really stepped up tremendously for us,” Perry said. “I had only three seniors playing so I’m excited about next year.”
So is Hendzel.
“I wasn’t the only one to step up,” Hendzel said. “We had a lot of other juniors that played a key role in the offense. We had Noah, Kyle and Luis (Murphy) and then we have some other juniors on the bench that are going to play a key role next year.
“I feel like we’ve come a long way from the beginning of the season so we have nothing to put our heads down for. Over the season we’ve had two-a-days three times a week, so we just put in the grind.”