By Bobby Narang
Naperville North High School made program history on many levels in the final week of the water polo season.
The Huskies set a new standard in the girls program by capturing their first water polo State championship with a victory over Stevenson, 15-6, Saturday at Fenwick High School in Oak Park. Not only did the Huskies end a painful string of postseason losses to the Patriots, they finished the season with an undefeated 29-0 won-loss record.
Naperville North head coach Andy McWhirter enjoyed jumping in the pool to finally celebrate his first State championship after finishing second place, third place, and fourth place in recent seasons
“These girls played big-time water polo in the State title game today,” McWhirter said. “We’ve lost to Stevenson before, but we came out super strong in that first half and dominated it to set them on their heels. I’ve been doing this a long time. We’ve come close a couple of times, so it’s nice and sweet to finally be able to hold that trophy in the end.”
Senior Anna Tarantino was a catalyst in the run to the program’s first State championship. The Loyola Marymount University recruit scored a game-high five goals in the State championship game, including three goals in the first quarter to send a message to the Patriots, which has won three straight State championships.
“We knew we had a huge target on our backs and this was in the long time running,” Taranatino said. “We wanted to make history, especially against Stevenson and break their streak. Two years ago, we lost to them in the title game, so we wanted revenge. We had a perfect countdown to this game. I’m extremely proud of this team. We like to get out really fast at the start and that leads up to the anticipation and builds our energy and gets the other team kind of low because we scored three goals early on. One of the main reasons we won because we got off to a good start.”
• In the boys championship game, Stevenson won its first State championship since 2017 by defeating Lyons, 15-8, Saturday night. Lyons head coach Doug Eichstaedt gave credit to the Patriots for playing a strong game and his team for overcoming some tough odds to reach the final game.
“These guys have played so well all year, from navigating this season and the excitement being able to play,” Eichstaedt said, while holding tightly the runner-up trophy. “We had a lot of great leaders on this team. Everyone worked together and pulled in the same direction. We had plenty of opportunities and just couldn’t finish some of those plays.
“The journey here and the way these guys played all year, I’m so proud of their effort. They’re a great team. We didn’t play as well defensively with some of our assignments and they took advantage….We couldn’t get it going early enough. This is a great team.”
Neuqua Valley broke new ground in the third-place game in boys State water polo. The Wildcats advanced to State for the first time in program history, by capping a memorable season with a 14-13 victory over Lincoln-Way East in the third-place game.
“We tried to make this a family thing and learn from our mistakes and get better,” Neuqua Valley head coach Chad Ganden said. “These guys really bought into that. We had a lot of adversity throughout this entire tournament, but they battled the whole way. The seniors have left the team better. The six seniors, plus our senior manager, were all special.”