The Fenwick boys water polo team had lost in the sectional final to York in Elmhurst the previous two seasons. On May 11, the Friars met the Dukes again with the sectional title at stake. However, this time the match was at the Donald O’Brien Aquatics Center on Fenwick’s campus, a place where the home team doesn’t lose often, especially in the postseason.
Yet despite a strong effort, the result was all too familiar as York used a strong second quarter to notch a 13-6 victory and advance to the IHSA state finals this week at Stevenson.
“I think we were prepared and had the ability to win this game,” said Fenwick senior Tim Fischer. “We had great energy, but we didn’t execute like we should have.”
After York tallied the first two goals, Thomas Heit scored with three minutes left in the first quarter to get Fenwick (22-5) on the board. The Friars seemed to be swinging the momentum, but a goal by the Dukes’ Henry Nelson at the quarter buzzer was backbreaking. There was a short debate among the officials, but the call stood.
George Grant scored on a man-up advantage for Fenwick to make the score 4-2 York with 2:30 left. But the Dukes scored four goals over the final 2:08 to open up an 8-3 halftime lead.
The Friars started the second half strong. Goals by Heit and Jack Posluszny within the first 49 seconds pulled Fenwick within three and elated the home crowd.
But York’s Gavin Honken kept the Friars at bay by converting a pair of five-meter penalty shots. Those goals blunted Fenwick’s momentum and allowed the Dukes to take an 11-6 lead heading into the final quarter.
York’s defense took over at that point and sealed things, not permitting any good scoring chances as Fenwick was forced to settle for long-distance shots that either went over or wide of the net. Heit finished with three goals, and Posluszny two.
“It was an uphill battle because they had to learn a new system under new coaches,” first-year head coach Beto Garcia said. “For the three months we had with them, they did a good job of adapting. We did better than people thought we were going to be, and that’s a testament to their work ethic and sticking together as a team.”
Fischer felt good about how he and his classmates (Patrick and Tim Gibbons, Owen McDonald, and Noah Patterson) helped make Garcia’s debut successful. The Friars won the Metro Catholic Aquatic Conference championship, going undefeated.
“Coach Garcia relied on us for gaining the team’s trust,” he said. “A lot of us knew him already, so I think we were an asset for him, and our leadership helped us throughout the season.”
In a sectional semifinal, May 10, Fenwick defeated Oak Park and River Forest 7-4. Heit scored twice and goalie Eddy Miljanovic made 12 saves for the Friars.
Greg Huseby notched a pair of goals and goalie Lucas Puntillo made 10 saves the Huskies, who finished 16-13 in Bailey Wendt’s third season as head coach.
“It was a good, competitive game,” said Wendt. “A couple of bounces, couple of shots didn’t go our way. Fenwick’s a good team; they countered well and did a lot of really good things. They played good defense and their goalie had a great game.
“It could’ve gone either way, but we came out on the losing end, which hurts,” he added. “But we’ll be back. We improved a ton from the beginning of the year, and I’m really proud of my guys.”