Sports
Kits fall short in pursuit of another trophy
You don’t have to drink Wildkit Kool-Aid to believe that only the luck of the draw will prevent Evanston’s girls from winning another state water polo trophy this year.
The Kits proved that point by standing up to defending state champion Stevenson in a physical state quarterfinal confrontation in the Patriots’ pool Thursday before bowing 11-6 and ending their season with a 26-6-1 record.
None of the ETHS players will be on the pool deck Saturday when the awards presentations take place and the unbeaten Patriots will likely celebrate their third straight Illinois High School Association title. But Evanston can certainly lay claim to being second in the state only to the Patriots when you consider that the Kits also defeated three of the other teams to reach the Elite Eight — Naperville North, St. Ignatius and Lyons Township — during the regular season.
Still, there’s no trophy to mount along with last year’s state runner-up trophy and the third-place trophy won by the 2004 squad. That’s because a blind draw matched two teams that were on opposite sides of the postseason bracket a year ago in this year’s first round at State.
“I think we were the team that was the most serious threat to Stevenson this year,” said senior Maya Vincent, who scored all six ETHS goals to match the best individual performance by a Wildkit player at State. Anna Ditton scored six goals in the third-place game against Naperville North in 2004.
“And we put up a really good fight today. We came full circle having to play
them in the first game instead of the championship, but I’m really proud of our team.”
ETHS head coach Maggie Hatcher echoed those thoughts, although Hatcher admitted she wasn’t interested in moral victories or a “We’re No. 2” scenario.
‘All we can control…’
“Of course, winning a state trophy would have been nice. But as we told the girls, all we can control is what we control, and that (pairing) was something that was out of our control,” she said. “It was unlucky for us. But once we saw that pairing, we just said OK and went to work on trying to beat them. “We didn’t need a miracle to win that game. There were just a few things that didn’t go our way.
“This group of girls is a force and they’re not intimidated or scared of anyone. That was not our best game — we did play the best we could — but at our best, the outcome would have been different.”
Thursday’s showdown was actually the second time the two powerhouses met this spring.
Stevenson, now 34-0 overall, had to come from behind in the fourth quarter to trip the Wildkits 12-8 back on April 12 in a contest that was just as physical. Ask ETHS senior Zayra Arellano, who suffered a broken finger in that regular season game.
Thursday’s matchup featured a total of 21 ejections for fouls — 12 for ETHS — and Vincent will probably have bruises to show for her six goals scored. “Stevenson is definitely a super physical team,” said Vincent.
“They’re very aggressive and that’s something we had to adapt to throughout the game. They’re really good.”
“We had a lot of nerves today — a lot goes into playing at a level like this — and we got into a lot of early foul trouble,” Hatcher pointed out. “It was a very physical game. Defensively, we had a couple of lapses, but we pretty much shut them down [three goals] in the second half. Because of Stevenson’s history of consistently being one of the top teams in the state, it seems that they’re allowed to play more physical without any repercussions. But our girls played with a lot of heart and didn’t quit. What more can you ask for?”
Evanston’s slow start on offense and lack of shooting support for Vincent found the Kits facing an uphill battle in the first quarter. They had a chance to cut the deficit to 3-2 with 22 seconds left in the first period when Arellano earned a penalty shot, but her shot sailed over the cage and Stevenson countered with a successful penalty shot at the other end by Olivia Spieth with 1 second left on the clock to make it 4-1.
Stevenson opened up an 8-3 advantage by halftime.
“Those penalty shots did set the tone,” Hatcher said. “Being down 3-2 would have been a lot better than 4-1. We have a ton of offensive threats on this team, but we missed a few early and just got unlucky with some of those shots.”
Vincent leads in scoring
Vincent concluded one of the best individual seasons in program history, scoring a total of 141 goals as a senior, more than twice her total from a year ago when she also led the Kits in scoring. She scored 11 goals in one game against a team from Michigan this spring and notched nine goals in a win over Waubonsie Valley.
Against Stevenson, Evanston’s plan was to isolate their center into as many 1-on-1 matchups as possible and the Patriots tried to slow her down with three different defenders. “That’s what Maya’s been doing for us all year,” Hatcher praised. “One-on-one, she’s one of the best. She’s one of our best centers ever for us. We found her when she was open, except when we stopped doing our job [on offense].”
“When I first started playing water polo the coaches wanted me to play center, and I didn’t like it very much,” Vincent acknowledged. “It’s the most physical position. But now I love it.
“My coaches in club and high school all pushed me to be more aggressive this year and I figured out how to use my strength a lot better. This was such a great team effort this year and the coaches always had us prepared 100 percent, not like any others in the state. “I wouldn’t change the way this season went for anything. We were just so connected as a team.”