At the Dan Lynch Invitational hosted by Fenwick, March 21-22, the Oak Park and River Forest High School boys water polo varsity team went 1-3 against tough competition. The Huskies lost the tournament opener on March 21 to Fenwick 10-8, but rebounded to defeat Parkway West of St. Louis in the nightcap.
The following day, OPRF suffered a pair of losses – 14-8 to Brother Rice, 13-3 to Lincoln-Way East – to finish eighth in the tournament, dropping its season record to 4-6.
Still, fourth-year OPRF coach Bailey Wendt likes how his team has played so far.
“This team is very balanced this year,” said Wendt, a 2015 Fenwick graduate. “Our team’s strength is our unselfishness; nobody is playing “hero ball” and everyone is looking to pass to the open man, regardless if they are a freshman or a senior.
“One area we could improve is our conditioning. Coming off the swim season, many of these guys developed the ability to swim a very fast 100 freestyle, which is typically a race that takes less than a minute. We have the challenge of developing our guys to play three or four quarters of a game.”
OPRF returns nine players from last year’s 19-11 team, including senior center Greg Huseby, junior attacker Max Koschmann, senior attacker Will Keyes, and senior goalie Lucas Puntillo. Top newcomers are freshman Chris Huseby, sophomores Clark Greendyke and Cam Kuenster, and junior Evan Sterk.
“Our main objective for the year is simple,” Wendt said. “We just want to get a little bit better every day. We focus on the task at hand, one day at a time.”
Fenwick
The Friars finished fourth in the Dan Lynch Invitational, going 2-2 over the weekend.
On Friday, Fenwick defeated OPRF for the second time this season, 10-8, then defeated Parkway West. In the semifinals on Saturday, the Friars lost 18-7 to New Trier, then fell to Stevenson 13-7 in the third-place game, dropping their season record to 6-3.
Fenwick started the season strongly, winning the Palatine Tournament. One of the Friars’ wins there came against OPRF (11-7). But head coach Beto Garcia, in his second season, says there’s still work to do.
“We need to improve in every area of the game,” he said. “I hope by the end of the season our versatility will be our strength.”
The Friars’ top returning players are senior attackers George Grant and Thomas Heit, senior goalie Eddie Miljanovic, and junior utility Jack Posluszny. A newcomer to watch is freshman utility Aaron Diaz.
Fenwick has a challenging schedule, which has long been among the hallmark of a program filled with a tradition of excellence, as 20 state championships allude to. The Friars have upcoming matches against multiple state contenders.
“Our games with Lyons, Naperville North, [and] York will be big,” Garcia said.
Fenwick also figures to contend once again for the Metro Catholic Aquatic Conference title, along with Brother Rice and Loyola Academy.
As for season goals, Garcia put them in simple terms.
“We have three objectives – win (MCAC), win sectionals, and compete at state,” he said.